- GDP enhances by 12.25% during July-Dec 2016-17
The country’s current account deficit further enhanced to (negative) $3.585 billion in July-Dec of the current fiscal year owing to the sliding exports and lower inflows of direct investment and remittances, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) here on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the SBP figures show that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has further increased to $159.921 billion up by 12.25 per cent in July-Dec 2016-17 compared to $142.412 billion in the same period last fiscal year. According to the SBP’s projection, full year GDP would increase by 5 to 5.50 percent in the current fiscal year.
The current account deficit widens by 92.25 percent to (negative) $3.585 billion in the last six months of this fiscal year while it was stood at (negative) $1.865 billion in the same period last year.
“Despite little improvement in current exports in Oct-Dec 2016-17, the balance of payment of the country is not much better while the remittances are also under pressure for the last six months,” the analyst said.
The import bill of the country has gone up by 135 percent in last six months, he added.
According to him, after the announcement of the textile package of Rs 180 billion, there is a hope that the trade will further improve in the remaining six months and balance of payments and trade gap will improve while remittances and direct investment of the country may also enhance in 2017.
The analyst said, “Our import bill is linked with the international oil prices, which has started moving up.” the import bill of oil companies in Pakistan will further enhance in the next six month.
It was a good chance for the country to reduce the import bill because of the oil import bills in the last six months. On the other hand, the oil prices in the international market have started rising from January 2017,” the analyst said.
The central bank is facing payment pressure of international donor agencies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the current account is still hovering in deficit, he added. Because of the pressure on the USD, the dollar exchange rate had gained 30 paisas and now being traded in the Interbank market at Rs 104.85 compared to $104.60 in November 2016.
The export stood at $9.912 billion in the last six months of the current fiscal year compared to $10.306 billion, while imports of the country touched $24.402 billion compared to $22.162 billion in the same period last year.
The trade deficit further swelled up to $14.490 billion in July-Dec 2016-17 up 22.22 percent compared to $11.856 billion in the same period last year. It surged by 11.87 percent in December 2016 on MOM basis, while 35.68 percent up on YOY basis.
Overseas Pakistani workers remitted an amount of $9.458 billion in July to December 2016-17, down by 2.4 percent or $229.68 million, compared with $9.688 billion received during the same period in the preceding year.
During December 2016, the inflow of worker’s remittances amounted to $1.584 million, which is 1.2 percent lower than November 2016 and December 2015.
