Weekly Economic Roundup

April 30, 2022 (MLN): The financial highlights of the country are brought to light with the economic and financial data releases over the course of the week.

• The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based on weekly inflation for the week ended on April 28 for the combined consumption group, witnessed an increase of 0.43% WoW as compared to the previous week.
• The total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country dipped by $377 million or 2.2% WoW to stand at $16.67bn as of the week ended on April 23, 2022, compared to $17bn in the previous week.
• The government raised Rs375.8 billion through the auction of three, five, and ten-year PIBs while the target was Rs100bn.
• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs108.94 million on four banks against violation of rules and regulations of various nature during the first quarter ended March 31, 2022.
• The cut-off yields of T-bills  reached 22 year high, increasing by up to 129 basis points in the auction conducted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.
• The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday, notified an increase of Rs4.83 per unit in the electricity tariff for K-Electric (KE) consumers for the month of March 2022 under fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism.
• Repatriation of profit and dividends by foreign investors jumped by 12% YoY to $1.26 billion during the first nine months of this fiscal year (FY22).
• Pakistan’s overall fiscal deficit in 9MFY22 stood at Rs2,566 billion (4% of GDP) against Rs1,652bn (3% of GDP) in 9MFY21, showing an increase of 55% YoY.
• ICT Export Remittances including Telecommunication, Computer and Information Services for the period July 2021 to March 2022, have surged to $1.948 billion at a growth rate of 29.26 % in comparison to $1.507 billion during the same period in FY 2020-21.
• Expo 2020 Dubai awarded Dh6.8 billion ($1.8bn) worth of contracts to small and medium businesses, exceeding a 2016 commitment to award at least 20 per cent of direct and indirect spend to them.
• The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) cleared three development projects worth Rs15.7804 billion, while recommending to the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval.

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