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KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country fell by $663 million during the week ended September 17, 2021.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday said that the foreign exchange reserves of the country fell to $26.402 billion by week ended September 17, 2021 as compared with $27.065 billion a week ago.
The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP also fell by $480 million to $19.543 billion by week ended September 17, 2021 as compared with $20.023 billion a week ago.
The State Bank said that the decline in foreign exchange reserves were mainly due to external payments.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial bank came down by $183 million to $6.859 billion by week ended September 17, 2021 as compared with $7.042 billion a week ago.
ISLAMABAD: Asad Umar (Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives) on Friday said that work on projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are continued in full swing.
He dispelled the impression of slowing down the pace of the CPEC projects saying that major work of the CPEC projects was completed during the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government.
He said in first phase of CPEC, two major sectors- power and infrastructure, were under the main focus. “Power projects with an installed capacity of 3,340 MW were completed during the previous government while 5,864 MW of power projects were being completed during the current government’s tenure,” he said while addressing a press conference here.
Apart from it, he started work on another 1824 MW project that had also been started recently that would be completed after the tenure of the current government.
In the infrastructure and road sector, the minister informed that the PML-N government completed 394 kilometers long motorways and highways under CPEC while the current government had so far completed 413 km of the motorways and highways.
Asad Umar said the PML-N government totally ignored the Western Corridor that was the heart of CPEC.
He said the Gwdar-Hoshab road was completed by the previous government while the Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan motorway was initiated by the PML-N government who completed 42% of the project while the rest was completed by the current government.
Apart from these two projects, the previous government could not reach even the initial approval stage of any of the road projects on the Western alignment, he added.
The minister said the DI Khan-Zhob road (210 km) was approved and a loan application had been submitted while negotiations for the loan were in process.
Similarly, the contractor for the Zhob-Queta project had been mobilized and PC-1 of the Quetta-Khuzdar road was approved while funding for this project had already been allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2021-22.
He informed that the current government had completed 67% of the work of the 110 km Khuzda-Basima road while it would also complete the rest work soon.
Likewise, the 146 km Hoshab-Awaran road project had also been approved and the contractor had been mobilized. The Hoshab-Awaran project is an integral part of the CPEC central alignment that connects the port city of Gwadar with Sindh.
“In fact, real work on Western Corridor of CPEC was started during PTI government,” he said adding that it did not wait for the Chinese investment and started work on the projects with its own resources under PSDP.
The minister informed the government was also starting work on the connecting roads to the Western Alignment. Peshawar-DI Khan Motorway project is one such project which has recently been approved.
Similarly, the 460 km Karachi-Quetta-Chaman road has also been approved and one of the portions would be completed by the government itself while the other sections of this project would be constructed under Public-Private Partnership.
Likewise, the government has also accorded approval to other such roads such as Nokundi-Mashkel road, Mashkel-Panjgur road, Awaran-Jhal Jhao road.
The minister said these connecting roads and the Wester Alignment were being built to take maximum benefit of the opportunities to be open up in Afghanistan after peace and stability prevailed in the country.
Asad Umar said after completion of the first phase, we were entering in the second but very important phase of CPEC under which investment would come to a range of sectors including industrialization, agriculture, livestock, science technology, and other social sector development sectors.
He said when the current government took over, not a single Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under CPEC was operational but now two SEZs Allama Iqbal Industrial Zone in Faisalabad and Rashakai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were operational while another SEZ named Dhabeji would also be functional soon once the Sindh government has selected the contractor for the SEZ.
Agriculture, he said was an important sector in which the Chinese had vast experience who would help Pakistan in strengthening the sector.
So far eight important initiatives in the agriculture sector have been approved under CPEC under which the Chinese would help Pakistanis to develop the sector.
He said the Chinese would help Pakistani farmers in increasing the per acre yield of the crops. Similarly, he said the Chinese would help in removing foot and mouth disease from the animals as this disease was the major hurdle in way of exporting Halal meat to the world.
The import bill increased by 74 per cent to $12.168 billion during first two months (July – August) of the current fiscal year as compared with $6.99 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The exports of the country also grew by 28 per cent to $4.58 billion during first two months of the current fiscal year as compared with $3.58 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.
However, trade deficit ballooned by 122.58 per cent to $7.58 billion during first two months of the current fiscal year as compared with the deficit of $3.4 billion in the corresponding months of the last year.
Workers’ remittances increased to $5.36 billion during July – August of the current fiscal year as compared with $4.86 billion in the same period of the last year.
KARACHI: Pakistan’s liquid foreign exchange reserves have slightly down by $38 million to $27.065 billion by week ended September 10, 2021 as compared with $27.103 billion a week ago, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The foreign exchange reserves maintained by commercial banks fell by $38 million to $7.042 billion by week ended September 10, 2021 as compared with $7.08 billion by week ended September 03, 2021.
The FBR system was not working for 10 days during the last month, said Shaukat Tarin at a press conference on Tuesday.
“We will talk to the FBR to extend the date of filing tax returns,” he added.
The finance minister said the government will start giving targeted subsidies from this month to the weak segments of society on essential commodities including sugar, flour and pulses.
Addressing a news conference along with Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib and Special Assistant on Food Security Jamshed Cheema, he said the targeted subsidy will be in the form of cash assistance, which will cover thirty-five to forty percent population.
The Finance Minister said the government is also focusing on bolstering the agriculture productivity. In the medium to long term, commodity warehouses, cold storages and agri malls will be established with the aim to eliminate the role of middle man and ensure that the farmers get due price of their products. He said strategic reserves of major commodities are also being built in order to ensure smooth supplies in the market.
The Finance Minister said that the prices of wheat will see decline in the coming days.
Shaukat Tarin said the government has tried its level best not to fully pass on to the masses the impact of international increase in the prices of commodities. He pointed out that sugar prices increased by forty eight percent in the world market but we only creased its price by eleven percent. Palm oil saw an increase of fifty percent but we increased the price by thirty three to thirty five percent. Similarly the prices of crude oil and wheat were not enhanced as per the international market.
The Finance Minister said the government is also giving attention to enhance the incomes of the people to enhance their purchasing power.
Shaukat Tarin said that Kamyab Pakistan Program will be launched this month in order to enable the weak segments of the society earn their livelihoods.
Shaukat Tarin said that the results our growth strategy are visible and the revenue collection is increasing. He said we are on the track to achieve five percent growth during the current fiscal year. This, he said, will also help reduce our debt to GDP ratio.
As regards the State Owned Enterprises, the Finance Minister said we have to turn around them. He said a board is being established in the privatization in order to run the State Owned Enterprises on professional lines. He said these enterprises will be privatized after turning them around.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema said the prices of flour, sugar, Ghee and pulses would be reduced by December this year. He said the government is targeting on ensuring quality and affordable price of milk; and a program to this effect would be unfolded in two weeks.
The Special Assistant said we are also shifting from non-promising crops to promising crops to meet the food demand of the country.
He said there has been an increase in prices of energy, food and mettle from 34 percent to 129 percent in the world, which made an impact on the prices in Pakistan.
KARACHI: Workers’ remittances continued their strong trend, reaching $2.66 billion in August 2021. This is the sixth consecutive month when inflows recorded around $2.7 billion on average, and the fifteen consecutive month they have been above $2 billion, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Friday.
In terms of growth, remittances increased by 26.8 percent (y/y) in August, which is a decade high growth rate for that month. On a m/m basis, inflows were marginally lower than in July, reflecting the usual post-Eid slowdown.
Nevertheless, this seasonal decline was far less this year compared to historical trends. Cumulatively, at $5.36 billion, remittances grew by 10.4% during the first two month of this year over the same period last year.
Remittance inflows during August 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($694 million), United Arab Emirates ($512 million), United Kingdom ($353 million) and the United States ($279 million).
Proactive policy measures by the Government and SBP to incentivize the use of formal channels, curtailed cross-border travel in the face of COVID-19, altruistic transfers to Pakistan amid the pandemic, and orderly foreign exchange market conditions have positively contributed towards the sustained improvement in remittance inflows since last year.
KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange of Pakistan has come down by $125 million to $27.103 billion by the week ended September 03, 2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $27.228 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021, the SBP added.
The official reserves of the SBP also fell by $123 million to $20.023 billion by the week ended September 03, 2021. The official reserves of the central bank slipped from record high of $20.146 billion a week ago.
The SBP attributed the decline in its foreign exchange reserves to external debt payments.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks slightly fell to $7.08 billion by the week ended September 03, 2021 as compared with $7.082 billion a week ago.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Division Omar Ayub Khan, Secretary Commerce, Secretary M/o Information Technology, Secretary Finance Division, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Reza Baqir, Executive Director General BOI, and other senior officers participated in the meeting.
Adviser for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood participated through a video link.
Secretary Commerce briefed the participants about the trade balance situation over the last two months.
Considering the expansion in economic activity, the import of one-time items like vaccines for COVID-19 as well as increased demand for raw materials has resulted in increasing imports during July and August 2021.
In his remarks, the Finance Minister stated that the economy is in a state of growth. As the economy registered a growth rate of 4 per cent during FY2021, there is an increased demand for imports.
As long as the trade deficit is within a sustainable level, it will stimulate economic recovery, he added.
The Finance Minister stressed upon the Ministry of Commerce to conduct sensitivity analysis and build scenarios for effective forecasting both in imports as well as exports for each month of the year.
In his concluding remarks, the Finance Minister said that the prudent policies adopted by the present government have stimulated economic recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy is heading in the right direction.
The enhanced revenue collection along with improved ratings (Business Confidence Index and by international credit rating agencies) indicates that the economy has gained momentum and is geared towards inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
The exports of the country increased by 27.59 per cent to $4.57 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared with $3.58 billion in the same months of the last fiscal year.
The import bill of the country registered a sharp increase of 72.59 per cent to $12.06 billion during July – August of 2021 as compared with $6.99 billion in the corresponding period of the last year.
The trade deficit widened even more sharply in August 2021 by 144 per cent to $4.23 billion when compared with trade deficit of $1.73 billion in August 2020.
The exports of the country were at $2.23 billion in August 2021 as compared with $1.58 billion in the same month of the last year, registering an increase of 41 per cent.
The import bill for the month of August 2021 was $6.46 billion when compared with $3.31 billion in the same month of the last year, showing a robust increase of 94.90 per cent.
The exports posted a decline of 4.53 per cent in August 2021 when compared with $2.34 billion in July 2021. However, the import bill increased by 15.39 per cent in August 2021 when compared with $5.6 billion in July 2021.
Prime Minister Imran Khan attends the inaugural ceremony of the three-day ICCI Housing Property, Housing and Construction Expo 2021 on Friday, to continue facilitating the construction industry for creating wealth and boost the country’s exports.
Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib, Special Assistant to PM Dr. Shahbaz Gill, Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Lt General (Retd) Anwar Ali Haider, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sardar Yasir Ilyas also attended the event.
The expo featured the pavilions of the commercial banks, Board of Investment, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), companies, and businesses related to the construction industry, including real estate developers, marketing firms, cement, marble, tiles, electronics, cable, and many others.
The educational institutes were also present there with aim of promoting the industry-academia linkage.
The prime minister urged the business sector to ensure the availability of raw materials in the construction industry to reduce the import bill.
He said introducing the housing finance facility by the government for the low-income group, that the country’s 220 million population would become an asset as the construction of houses would positively impact all allied industries.
He further said that unfortunately, the previous governments never thought of the poor segment but the government had opened the avenue.
