Hike in imports and exports

The economic outlook report released on Monday by the finance ministry for July 2021 shows a surge in exports and imports.

The reports showed that the exports amounted to a total of US$2.3 billion with a 19.7 per cent increase, along with a 51.7pc escalation of the imports to US$5.4bn.

There was an improvement in the portfolio investment as they reached US$1.02bn. Furthermore, tax collection and production of large-scale manufacturing also increased.

However, according to the data in the report, the remittances from overseas Pakistanis, non-taxable income and foreign investment faced a slump as US$2.7bn remittances were sent from the overseas Pakistanis which was a 2.1pc decline. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) stood at US$89.9 million with a 30.1pc decline.

The imbalance led to a current account deficit of US$0.8bn which accounts for 2.8pc of the GDP.

The total foreign exchange reserves were highlighted to be US$27.31bn with State Bank Pakistan (SBP) holding US$20.26bn while commercial banks had US$7.04bn. Moreover, the interbank rate of the dollar was Rs165.2.

Tax revenue for the month increased by 42.5pc to Rs414 billion while the non-tax revenues faced a 12.3pc decline to Rs1631bn.

Public sector development programme (PSDP) approved funds equalled Rs133.7bn as the financial deficit saw an increase up to Rs3403bn.