Pakistan Daily Economy Update - 18 April

Transcription

1. Apr . 17-18, 2016 KCCI - eBulletin IFC praises Pakistan’s economic policies The Executive Vice President of the International Finance Commission (IFC), Philippe Houerou, has praised economic policies and financial discipline of the Pakistan government. In a meeting with a Pakistani delegation, the IFC vice president appreciated improvement in macro indicators and growth rates of Pakistan. Attributing the turnaround to economic policies and financial discipline of the government, Mr Houerou assured complete support from the IFC to Pakistan’s financial and energy sectors. He also discussed with the delegation the issuance of rupee bonds in Pakistan. During the next few years, the IFC may invest about $ 500 Mn annually in Pakistan, with the focus on infrastructure projects, particularly renewable and low-cost power, financial markets, agribusiness, manufacturing, and services. Dawn-Mon. KCR to greatly ease city’s traffic flow: Ebad Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad, in a meeting with a delegation of the China Social Economic Academy and officials of China Railways, observed that the Karachi Circular Railway is a much needed project to ease the city’s traffic flow and provide an affordable alternate mode of transport. Ebad while calling for a speedy completion of the project said the KCR was an integral part of the Karachi Mass Transit. Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) Managing Director while briefing the Governor over the project informed him that the total length of the KCR was 43.12 km and it total cost was estimated at $2.7 Bn. The News-Mon. Global commodity, oil prices guide Pakistan’s consumer inflation: SBP The central bank said commodity prices in the country are directly linked with the global trend and especially volatility in oil is vividly reflected in consumer inflation though the country is relatively a small economy. The impact of global oil price changes upon inflation in Pakistan is quicker compared to that of changes in food prices or prices of cotton and metal, the SBP said in a working paper titled ‘Global Commodity Prices and Inflation in Small Open Economy’. The research study said 1% increase in global food price inflation has 3.5% impact on food inflation in the country. The response of food inflation in Pakistan to similar shock in global crude oil prices is slightly higher than 0.5%, it added. The News-Sun 57.3% of budgeted amount released under PSDP The federal government has released PKR 400.9Bn (57.3% of the total budgeted for FY16), including PKR 72Bn foreign aid, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for various development projects. A total of PKR 64.1Bn has been released for National Highway Authority (NHA) while the Federal government has also released PKR 94Bn for WAPDA out of PKR 114Bn budgeted allocation. BR-Sun. Demurrages piling up: manufacturers irked by slow process of ST Registration A number of genuine manufacturers are suffering huge demurrages at port to get their machinery/equipment cleared because of inordinate delays in obtaining sales tax registration since Jan’16 which is hampering their imports and affecting the manufacturing activities across Pakistan. Slow process of the sales tax registration during the last 4 months is creating serious difficulties for manufacturers in carrying out business processes. BR-Sun. FBR opposes signing of ITA, fears heavy revenue loss The FBR has raised concerns over the commerce ministry’s move to ratify the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) under the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Joining the ITA will lead to removal of duties on the import of over 200 hi-tech products such as desktops, laptops, mobile phones among WTO member countries. The FBR, in a letter to the commerce ministry, has estimated that the country would lose PKR 4.5Bn alone in customs duties after accession to the treaty in the first year. Local taxation will also not benefit from this because of inelastic demand, the letter said. Becoming signatory to the ITA would not necessarily mean open doors for Pakistani exports, which have to face sensitive items lists of various countries, requiring extending period of ITA implementation. Dawn-Sun. Currency dealers see ‘exchange rate bubble’ set to burst The exchange rate has been stable for more than 100 days now, but experts in the inter-bank market see a bubble that may burst in the next two months. Experts see no demand for the US dollars in the open market, but are of the view that primary dealers in the inter-bank market are under pressure from the State Bank to keep the exchange rate stable. The dollar has been maintained at around PKR 104.60-70 for more than three months as the government perceives it to be politically valuable. Exporters have been seeking devaluation of the rupee, but they have failed to convince the finance minister, especially after a disappointing exports strategy which resulted in falling proceeds. Dawn-Sun. BRICS bank okays first loans A new multilateral lender set up by the BRICS nations has approved its first set of loans valued at $ 811Mn for renewable energy projects in four of its member countries. The New Development Bank (NDB), which formally launched full operations in Feb’16, is backed by the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Dawn-Sun. PR earns over PKR 81Mn by leasing out railway land in KPK Pakistan Railways has earned PKR 81.72Mn by leasing out unutilized land of the railway available on Mardan-Dargai section, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) for various purposes during the last 5 years. According to the railway Minister, the land was leased out for agriculture at PKR 0.204Mn, parking at PKR 0.29Mn, stacking at PKR 2.44Mnand tehbazari at PKR 6.45Mn. The Nation – Sun. Punjab govt. to procure 4Mn metric tons wheat Provincial Minister for Food has said that Punjab govt. has decided to procure 40 lakh metric ton wheat from farmers and 376 wheat procurement centers have been set up throughout the province in this regard. Minister has said that the wheat procurement will be started from 25th Apr, 2016 and all arrangements have been made in this regard. The Nation – Mon. Economic Indicators Date / Period Unit Value Change Daily USD-Interbank List of Indicators 15-Apr PKR 104.72 0.02% USD-Open MKT 15-Apr PKR 105.35 0.63% KSE-100 index FIPI 15-Apr 15-Apr Pts. $ Mn 33,767 -2.51 0.00% NM** Crude (MY'16) 15-Apr $/bbl 41.76 -2.02% Gold (MY'16) 15-Apr $/oz 1,234.7 0.62% Gold (10g) Local 15-Apr PKR 42,128 0.00% Silver (MY'16) 15-Apr $/oz 16.24 0.54% Cotton(KHI)-40 kg 15-Apr PKR 5,841 0.00% Kibor-6M 15-Apr % 6.36% -0.01% 8-Apr $ Bn 20.83 -0.24% Remittances Jul-Mar 16 $ Bn 14.16 4.14% Exports* Jul-Mar 16 $ Bn 15.61 -12.92% Imports* Jul-Mar 16 $ Bn 32.52 -4.22% Trade Balance* Jul-Mar 16 $ Bn -16.91 -5.50% Current Account Avg. CPI-FY16* Jul-Feb 16 Jul-Mar 16 $ Mn % -1,859 2.64 4.52% WoW Forex Reserves YoY Apr-16 Discount Rate % 6.00 Sources: KCCI Research, PMEX, NCCPL, KSE, SBP, PBS* ** Not Meaningful WoW= week on week; YoY=Year on Year Major Currencies 175 165 GBP, 15-Apr-16, 148.4 155 145 135 EUR, 15-Apr-16, 118.0 125 115 105 95 USD, 15-Apr-16, 104.7 85 75 Apr-15 Jul-15 USD GBP Oct-15 Jan-16 EUR Apr-16 Source: KCCI Research ; Oanda.com Quote of the Day “Executing the solution means gaining customer commitment and delivering on your promises” Chris Murray Chart of the Day Top 10 Import Partners of Pakistan (8MFY16) 6,000 5,234 5,000 4,155 4,000 3,000 2,000 2,053 1,446 1,244 1,000 914 910 893 805 632 0 Value in $ Mn Source: KCCI Research, SBP Disclaimer This report has been prepared by KCCI Research & Development Cell. The information contained herein have been compiled or arrived at based upon information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith. Such information has not been independently verified. icon represents the sole viewpoint of the KCCI R&D Cell, and is stated to enrich the readers' understanding of the news item. The