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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.
In a bid to facilitate both local and foreign investors, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday instructed relevant authorities to expedite the launch of a one-window portal designed to streamline investor facilitation in Pakistan.
The total liquid exchange reserves of the county were $24.619 billion by the week ended August 20, 2021, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.
The official reserves of the SBP also reached a historic high of $20.146 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021.
The SBP said that during the week ended Aug 27, 2021, the central bank received proceeds of IMF SDR allocation amounting to US$ 2.752 billion. After accounting for external debt payments, the reserves have increased by $ 2.567 billion to $20.146 billion.
The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks increased nominally to $7.082 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021 as against $7.040 billion a week ago.
ISLAMABAD: The ministry of finance on Thursday said that Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio has increased by 1.7 per cent during the pandemic as against an increase in global average of 13 per cent.
Responding to some media reports regarding the increase in public debt during the last three years, the statement said that a better way to measure the level of debt was through the Debt-to-GDP ratio instead of looking at the absolute values of debt.
“Global Debt-to-GDP ratio increased by 13 percentage points, whereas, Pakistan’s Debt-to-GDP ratio witnessed a minimal increase of 1.7 percentage points in 2019-20,” it said adding that the country’s Debt-to-GDP ratio in fact reduced by 4 percentage points indicating lower debt burden at end June 2021 as compared with last fiscal year.
The ministry said that the increase in debt during the last three years occurred mainly during the Fiscal year 2018-19 due to implementing difficult and unavoidable policy choices.
Had the market-based exchange rate, a sustainable level of Current Account Deficit, adequate cash buffers and long-term domestic borrowing profile been maintained, the debt burden would have been reduced further on the back of fiscal consolidation efforts supported by aggressive control on expenses and growth in tax and non-tax revenues.
As most of the major adjustments to fiscal and monetary policies have been made, the debt burden is projected to decline firmly over the next few years.
The statement while referring to media reports said that these reports ignored the underlying reasons behind such increase adding that in order to fully understand the underlying economic realities, there was a need to analyze the sources of increase in total public debt during last three years. The underlining reasons are:
Interest Expenses: Preference towards short-term domestic borrowing in absence of adequate cash buffers resulted in short-term profile of domestic debt at the end of FY2018.
This short-term profile led to high-interest cost on debt as interest rates had to be increased significantly to curb rising inflationary pressures. The government paid Rs 7.5 trillion against interest servicing which explained 50 percent of the increase in total public debt.
Currency Devaluation Impact: The exchange value of the Rupee was maintained at an artificially high level in the past which triggered the balance of payment crisis.
Transition to a market-based exchange rate regime, being an unavoidable policy choice, resulted in sharp exchange rate depreciation leading to high inflation, high interest rates, slower GDP growth, and lower import-related tax revenues.
This exchange rate depreciation added around Rs 2.9 trillion (20 percent of the increase) in public debt. It is important to highlight here that this increase was not due to borrowing but due to the re-valuation of external debt in terms of rupees after currency devaluation.
Financing of Primary Deficit: The impact of economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic mainly resulted in higher than estimated primary deficits. Rs 3.5 trillion (23 percent of the increase) was borrowed for the financing of the primary deficit.
Cash Management & Others: Rs 1.0 trillion (7 percent of the increase) was on account of increased cash balances of the government to meet emergency requirements as well as due to difference between the face value (which is used for the recording of debt) and the realized value (which is recorded as a budgetary receipt) of government bonds issued during this period. The government took the revolutionary and economically sound step of not borrowing from the SBP and maintaining a cash buffer, which led to a one-off increase in debt. However, this increase in debt was offset by corresponding increase in the Government’s liquid cash balances.
