ISLAMABAD – At a time when the world economic growth rate has been hit hardby the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shocks, the economy of Pakistan has beenshowing significant progress as indicated by various indicators, depictingprudent polices of the government in running the country in these crisistimes.
According to official figures, the Large Scale Manufacturing Industries(LSMI) witnessed growth of 7.41 percent during the first five months(July-November) of the current fiscal year compared to the correspondingperiod of last year. While on year-on-year basis, the LSMI grew by 14.46percent in November 2020 as compared to November 2019.
The monthly inflation based on the Consumer price Index (CPI), deceleratedto 8 percent on year-on-year (YoY) basis in December 2020, from 8.3 percentduring November. On month-on-month (MoM) basis, it decreased by 0.7% inDecember as compared to an increase of 0.8 percent in November 2020 and adecrease of 0.3 percent in December 2019.
On revenue side, the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) collected taxes ofRs.2204 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as againstthe revenues of Rs2101 during the corresponding period of fiscal year2019-20, showing growth of 5 percent.
The tax collection on year-on-year basis increased by 8.3 percent duringthe month of December 2020 compared to same month of last year. Thecollection during December 2020 was recorded at Rs508 billion against Rs469billion in December 2019.
Meanwhile, the remittances from overseas Pakistanis during December 2020rose by 16.
2 per cent year-on-year to $2.436 billion, compared to $2.097bn in December2019. The remittances remained above $2 billion for the seventh consecutivemonth.
The remittance during the first half of the current fiscal year increasedby 24.9 percent to $14.2bn against the remittances of $11.372 billionduring July-December (2019-20).
Meanwhile, the overall, liquid foreign Currency reserves held by thecountry, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at$20,519 million as on January 08, 2020 compared to $ 18,658.1 in January2020, showing increase of 9.97 percent.
The country s exports increased by 4.98 percent during the first half (H1)of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the correspondingperiod of last year. The exports from the country during July-December(2020-21) were recorded at $12.098 billion against the exports of $11.524billion during July-December (2019-20), according to the latest PBS data.
During the month of December 2020, the exports went up to $2.366 billionagainst the exports of $1.988 billion in December 2019, showing growth of19.01 percent.
Likewise, Pakistan s Current Account Balance posted a surplus of $447million in November 2021 against a deficit of $326 million in same month ofthe previous year.
On average, the surplus during the period July-November (2020-21) has risento $1.6 billion compared to a deficit of $1.7 billion over the same periodlast year.
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