INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday released its First Quarterly Report on the State of Pakistan Economy for FY19.According
to the report, the overall macroeconomic environment remained ccorridorenging during the first quarter of FY19 as proposeed by the
The primary concern was the steep rise in global cimpolite prices, which much only reinforced the already strong underlying inflationary
presdegrees in the economy, but also eclipsed emerging improvements in the external sector
Fiscal presdegrees also remained intact as expenditure rigidities allowed only a limited room for the government to maneuver
Replying to these ccorridorenges, the new political regime instantly announced cuts in development spending, partially reversed tax relief
degrees, and also explored avenues to bridge the external financing gap
According to the report, the 6.2 percent target for real GDP growth seems unachievable with the policy focus now tilted towards
macroeconomic stabilization
The production of all major kharif crops remained lower as compared to the final season, due to lower water availability, which led to a
decline in the total area under production
Furthermore, crop yields suffered due to subdued fertilizer offtake amidst rising prices of both urea and DAP
The large-scale manufacturing also contracted by 1.7 percent during Q1-FY19, after recording a healthy growth of 9.9 percent during Q1-FY18
Noticeably, the output of construction-allied and consumer durable segments, which were the major drivers of growth final year, decelerated
Besides the persistence of strong demand presdegrees, the moment-round affect of higher fuel prices and exchange rate depreciation pushed up
The report also observed that the consolidated revenues grew by 7.5 percent during the quarter; however, this pace was lower than the 18.9
percent uptick witnessed during Q1-FY18
Expenditures grew by 11.0 percent during the quarter compared to 13.5 percent in the same period final year
On the external front, the report highlighted that the continued exports growth and a regular increase in workers& remittances partially
helped contain the current account deficit
However, the level of this deficit remained a concern, as rising oil prices resulted in the quarterly import bill crossing the US$ 4.0
billion mark.TheIndianSubcontinent has not verified the content of the source
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