Highlights of Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22

BusinessHighlights of Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22

Growth and Investment

  • The real GDP posted a growth of 5.97 percent in FY2022. Still economy is facing underlying macroeconomic imbalances and associated domestic and international risks.
  • The economy of Pakistan rebounded from the pandemic (0.94 percent contraction in FY2020) and continued to post a V-Shaped economic recovery which is higher than 5.74 percent recorded in last year (FY2021).

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  • External circumstances like highly transmissible Omicron, Changes in Afghanistan’s government after the withdrawal of US troops, Russian-Ukraine conflict are upending the global economic picture and the consequent uncertainty is considerably increased for a global economy that was still struggling to recover from COVID-19 aftermath.
  • On external side, the financial account is not enough to offset the current account deficit, which resulted in putting pressure on the exchange rate. For Jul-Apr FY2022, the current account deficit remained US$13.8 billion against the deficit of US$0.5 billion last year resulting in widening the Saving-Investment Gap.
  • Due to depleting foreign exchange reserves, pressure on exchange rate is intensified.
  • For aggregate demand analysis, Nominal GDP i.e., GDP (MP) at current prices is used. For FY2022, GDP at current market prices stood at Rs 66,950 billion showing a growth of 20.0 percent over last year (Rs 55,796 billion).
  • In dollar term, it stood US$383 billion. Regarding per capita income in terms of dollar, there was a rebound seen in FY2021 which continued in FY2022. In FY2022, per capita income was recorded at US$1,798 which reflects an improvement in prosperity due to the fact that economic growth per person improved.
  • Household Private Consumption Expenditures, it was observed that even an increase in interest rate and depreciation has not altered the pattern in FY2022 and FY2021. This might happen on account of an increase in workers’ remittances. Further, the impact of cash transfer to the low segment of society through the Ehsaas Cash Emergency Programme may not be over yet.
  • For FY2022, investment to GDP ratio remained 15.1 percent compared to 14.6 percent recorded in FY2021.
  • It has been observed over the long time period that the contribution of Net Exports in aggregate demand, usually remained negative except in FY2020 mainly due to the massive decline in imports on account of the pandemic. As per National Accounts data, Exports of Goods and Services posted a growth of 39 percent and Imports of Goods and Services 46 percent in FY2022.
  • For FY2022, Real GDP (GVA at basic prices 2015-16) posted a growth of 5.97 percent on account of 4.40 percent growth in Agriculture, while 7.19 and 6.19 percent growth in Industry and Services respectively. This growth is slightly above the growth of 5.74 percent recorded for FY2022.
  • Agriculture: The agriculture sector posted growth of 4.4 percent mainly due to 6.6 percent growth in Crops and 3.3 percent growth in Livestock. The growth in crops was recorded on account of 7.2 percent growth in Important Crops, 5.4 percent growth in Other Crops, and 9.2 percent growth in Cotton Ginning. Livestock sector which constitutes almost 62 percent share in agriculture, posted a growth of 3.3 percent. The other components of agriculture, forestry and fishing posted growth of 6.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively.
  • Industry: Industrial sector recorded a growth of 7.2 percent in FY2022 compared to 7.8 percent growth in FY2021.Industrial sector performance is more dependent on the Manufacturing sector which has a share of 65.0 percent in the industry. However, within Manufacturing, Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) holds 74 percent while its share in the industry is 48 percent. During Jul – Mar FY2022, the QIM index posted a growth of 10.4 percent. The other components of Manufacturing, Small Scale, and Slaughtering posted growth of 8.9 and 6.2 percent, respectively. Thus, Manufacturing posted a growth of 9.8 percent while Mining and Quarrying posted negative growth of 4.5 percent. Similarly, Electricity Gas and Water Supply, the other sub-sector of Industry posted growth of 7.9 percent. Finally, Construction recorded a modest growth of 3.1 percent.
  • Services: Services sector still constitutes the largest share of 58 percent in GDP even in the new methodology used for the Change of Base of National Accounts on 2015-16. However, in the new methodology, the services sector has been divided into Ten sub-sectors. During FY2022, the services sector posted a growth of 6.2 percent on account of 10 percent growth in Wholesale and Retail Trade industry, 5.4 percent growth in Transportation & Storage, 4.1 percent growth in Accommodation and food services activities, 4.9 percent growth in Finance and insurance, 3.7 percent growth in Real estate activities, 8.7 percent growth in Education, 2.2 percent growth in Human health and social work activities, and 3.8 percent growth in Other private services. However, Public administration and social security (general government) activities posted negative growth of 1.2 percent mainly due to high deflator.
  • Pakistan’s economy faces several severe challenges. Inflation is running high, the prospects for future growth in potential output are uncertain.  Financing fiscal deficit is becoming challenging. Further, high trade deficit is leading to external imbalances putting extra pressure on foreign reserves and on the exchange rate.  Appropriate economic policies will be required to keep economy moving along with mitigating these risks.

Agriculture

  • During 2021-22, agriculture sector recorded a remarkable growth of 4.40 percent and surpassed the target of 3.5 percent and last year’s growth of 3.48 percent.
  • During 2021-22, cotton production increased to 8.329 million bales (17.9 percent) as compared to 7.064 million bales last year
  • During 2021-22, rice crop showed record production of 9.323 million tonnes and witnessed growth of 10.7 percent over last year’s production of 8.420 million tonnes
  • During 2021-22, sugarcane witnessed record production of 88.651 million tonnes and grew by 9.4 percent over the last year’s production of 81.009 million tonnes
  • During 2021-22, maize crop production increased by 19.0 percent to 10.635 million tonnes compared to the last year’s production of 8.940 million tonnes
  • During 2021-22, wheat production recorded 26.394 million tonnes as compared to 27.464 million tonnes in last year, showing a decline of 3.9 percent
  • Other crops having share of 13.86 percent in agriculture value addition and 3.14 percent in GDP, grew by 5.44 percent during 2021-22 on the back of increase in the production of pulses (29.82 percent), oilseeds (24.75 percent), vegetables (11.52 percent), fruits (1.53 percent) and fodders (0.36 percent)
  • Livestock having share of 61.89 percent in agriculture and 14.04 percent in GDP, recorded a growth of 3.26 percent in 2021-22 compared to 2.38 percent during same period last year
  • During 2021-22, gram production grew by 36.3 percent and reached to 319 thousand tonnes on account of availability of certified seeds and favourable weather conditions compared to last year. The production of rapeseed & mustard increased by 26.7 percent while production of Jowar and Bajra witnessed a decrease of 33.3 percent and 15.0 percent, respectively, due to decline in area under cultivation. The production of Barley and Tobacco remained at the last year’s production level.
  • During 2021-22, the production of chilies, potato and moong increased by 36.6 percent, 35.1 percent and 29.0 percent respectively, as compared to same period of last year. However, the production of mash and onion declined by 11.6 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, while production of masoor remained same over last year.
  • During 2021-22 (July-March), about 778.2 thousand tonnes of improved seeds of various Kharif/Rabi crops were available
  • During FY2022 (July-March), banks have disbursed Rs 958.3 billion which is 56.4 percent of the overall annual target and 0.5 percent higher than the disbursement of Rs 953.7 billion made during the same period last year
  • The domestic production of fertilizers during FY2022 (July-March) increased by 1.9 percent over the same period of last year. This increase in domestic production of fertilizer is mainly due to running of two LNG based plants i.e. Fatima-Fert and Agri-tech Limited from September 2021 to March 2022.
  • Price of urea increased by 10.4 percent, while that of DAP increased by 88.7 percent. Federal Government announced subsidy of Rs 1,000 per bag of DAP to compensate farming community.

Manufacturing & Mining

  • Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) growth during July-March FY2022 increased by 10.4 percent as compared to 4.2 percent growth in the same period last year.
  • The industry specific data shows that Furniture Products recorded highest growth of 301.8 percent, Wood Products 157.5 percent, Automobile 54.1 percent, Other Manufacturing (Footballs) 37.8 percent, Wearing Apparel 34.0 percent, Iron & Steel 16.5 percent, Tobacco 16.7 percent, Food 11.7 percent, Machinery & Equipment 8.9 percent, Chemicals 7.8 percent and Textile 3.2 percent.
  • The sectors which recorded negative growth during the period are Rubber Products 20.6 percent, Other Transport Equipment 10.2 percent, Fabricated Metal 7.2 percent, Electrical Equipment 1.1 percent, and pharmaceutical 0.4 percent.
  • The Mining and Quarrying sector negatively grew by 4.5 percent during FY2022 as against positive growth of 1.2 percent last year.
  • Coal, Natural Gas, Chromite, Crude Oil and Barytes witnessed the growth of 8.3, 3.5, 25.7, 4.5 and 162.5 percent, respectively. However, some witnessed negative growth such as Magnesite 52.3 percent, Gypsum 37.0 percent, Lime Stone 33.3 percent, Ocher 25.5 percent, and Rock Salt 24.2 percent.

Fiscal Development

  • Total revenues increased by 17.7 percent and reached Rs 5,874.2 billion (8.8 percent of GDP) in July-March FY2022 against Rs 4,992.6 billion (8.9 percent of GDP) last year. A significant increase in tax collection was the key factor in boosting revenue growth, which more than offset the decline in non-tax revenues.
  • Total tax collection (Federal & Provincial) grew by 28.1 percent to reach Rs 4,821.9 billion during July-March FY2022 as compared to Rs 3,765.0 billion in the comparable period of last year. Non-tax revenues, on the other hand, fell 14.3 percent to Rs 1,052.2 billion in July-March FY2022, compared to Rs 1,227.6 billion in the same period the previous year.
  • Total expenditures grew by 27.0 percent to reach Rs 8,439.8 billion in July-March FY2022 against Rs 6,644.6 billion last year.
  • Current expenditures grew by 21.2 percent to Rs 7,378.0 billion during July-March FY2022 as compared to Rs 6,085.4 billion in the comparable period of last year. Higher growth in non-markup expenditures lifted up the total current spending.
  • Total development expenditure increased significantly by 54.6 percent to Rs 1,032.7 billion in July-March FY2022 against Rs 668.0 billion in the comparable period of last year. The federal PSDP grew by 28.1 percent to Rs 452.3 billion during July-March FY2022 against Rs 353.0 billion last year.
  • FBR tax collection during July-May, FY2022, increased by 28.4 percent to Rs 5,348.2 billion against Rs 4,164.3 billion last year.
  • The direct taxes collection increased by 28.5 percent, sales tax by 28.2 percent, FED by 14.6 percent, and customs by 34.0 percent during the first ten months of FY2022.
  • During July-March FY2022, all the four provinces posted a combined surplus of Rs 599.8 billion against Rs 412.7 billion in the same period of last year.
  • The fiscal deficit increased to 3.8 percent of GDP (Rs 2,565.6 billion) during July-March FY2022 against 3.0 percent of GDP (Rs 1,652.0 billion) in the same period of last year. Similarly, the primary balance posted a deficit of Rs 447.2 billion against the surplus of Rs 451.8 billion during the period under review.

Money and Credit

  • To counter inflationary pressure and for sustainable economic recovery, SBP has moved to monetary policy tightening at the end of the first quarter of FY2022 which was kept unchanged since June 2020.
  • Policy rate has been increased by cumulative 675 bps till 24th May, 2022. The decisions were made on account of significant uncertainty around the outlook for international commodity prices and global financial conditions.
  • During the period 1st July-20th May, FY2022, Broad Money increased to Rs 1,623.1 billion (growth of 6.7 percent) as compared to growth of Rs 1,660.4 billion (growth of 7.9 percent) during same period last year.
  • Within Broad Money, Net Foreign Assets (NFA) of the banking system decreased by Rs 1,452.1 billion during 1st July-20th May, FY2022, as compared to an increase of Rs 1,014.7 billion in last year.
  • During the period 1st July-20th May FY2022, Net Domestic Assets (NDA) of banking system witnessed expansion of Rs 3,075.2 billion as compared to expansion of Rs 645.7 billion during comparable period last year.
  • Reserve Money increased by Rs 903.7 billion (growth of 10.4 percent) during the period 1st July-20th May, FY2022, as compared to expansion of Rs 867.4 billion (growth of 11.3 percent) in comparable period last year.
  • Government has borrowed Rs 1,765.2 billion for budgetary support during the period 1st July-20th May, FY2022 as compared to Rs 473.8 billion during same period of last year.
  • During the period 1st July-20th May, FY2022, overall private sector credit witnessed unprecedented expansion of Rs 1,413.9 billion as compared to expansion of Rs 468.7 billion during same period last year. On a positive note, credit demand increased both for fixed investment and working capital loans.
  • Fixed investment loans witnessed a significant expansion of Rs 366.7 billion during July-April, FY2022, as compared Rs148.6 billion during the same period last year.
  • Similarly, Working Capital loans observed an expansion of Rs 628.9 billion during Jul-Apr, FY2022 as compared to the expansion of Rs 77.4 billion during the same period last year.
  • The Weighted Average Lending Rate (WALR) on gross disbursements has increased from 8.03 percent in April, 2021 to 11.87 percent in April, 2022. Similarly, Weighted Average Deposit Rate (WADR) also increased from 3.3 percent in April, 2021 to 5.8 percent in April, 2022.

Capital Markets and Corporate Sector

  • The benchmark KSE-100 index opened at 47,356 points on 1st July 2021 and closed at 44,929 points on 31st March 2022, declined by 5.1 percent in the first nine months of FY2022.
  • Market capitalization of the PSX was Rs 8,297 billion on 30th June 2021 and closed at Rs 7,583 billion on 31st March 2022. A total of Rs 714 billion wiped out from the market capitalization of the PSX.
  • The major development of FY2022 is the issuance of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). During July-March FY2022, five companies issued shares through IPOs on main board, while two companies are listed on Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) board.
  • As of March 31, 2022, number of listed companies stood at 532.
  • During July-March FY2022, 32 debt securities worth Rs 121.5 billion were privately placed.
  • As of March 31, 2022, 102 corporate debt securities remained outstanding, amount to Rs 749.8 billion.

Inflation

  • The headline inflation CPI, averaged at 11.3 percent during July-May, FY2022 against 8.8 percent in the comparable period last year.
  • The Urban food inflation during July-May, FY2022, is recorded at 12.5 percent and non-food 10.2 percent as against 12.6 percent and 5.4 percent in the corresponding period last year.
  • The Rural food inflation during July-May, FY2022, is recorded at 11.8 percent and non-food 11.5 percent as against 13.4 percent and 7.2 percent in the corresponding period last year.
  • Urban and Rural Core inflation during July-May, FY2022, stood at 7.8 percent and 8.6 percent respectively against 5.9 percent and 7.6 percent last year.
  • WPI during July-May, FY2022 has recorded an increase of 23.6 percent against the 8.4 percent last year.
  • SPI recorded an increase of 16.7 percent during July-May, FY2022 against the 13.5 percent last year.
  • The pressures on headline inflation during the period can fairly be attributed to adjustment in prices of electricity and gas, a significant increase in the non-perishable food prices, exchange rate depreciation along with rapid increase in global fuel and commodity prices.

Trade and Payments

  • During July–April FY2022, the exports grew remarkably by 27.8 percent and reached US$ 26.8 billion dollars as compared to US$ 21.0 billion of the same period last year.
  • Imports stood at US$ 59.8 billion in July-April FY2022 as compared to US$ 43.0 billion in the same period last year grew by 39.0 percent. The increase in imports is recorded in all the major groups.
  • Multiple factors have contributed to the steep rise in imports during July-April FY2022. The broad-based surge in global commodity prices, COVID-19 vaccine imports, and demand-side pressures, all contributed to the rising imports.
  • Trade deficit increased by 49.6 percent in July-April FY2022 to US$ 32.9 billion as compared to US$ 22.0 billion in the corresponding period last year.
  • During July-April FY2022, current account posted a deficit of US$ 13.8 billion against a deficit of US$ 543 million last year. The major contributor to the higher current account deficit was the 33.2 percent increase in the merchandise trade deficit during July-April FY2022.
  • The services account posted a deficit of US$ 3.6 billion in July-April FY2022 as against a deficit of US$ 2.1 billion same period last year mainly due to the rise in transport and travel services imports.
  • In the primary income account, the deficit rose to US$ 4.5 billion (21.6 percent) in July-April FY2022, mainly due to a 20.7 percent uptick in interest payments during the period.
  • Interest payments on official debt (including sovereign bonds) increased significantly during the period, partly reflecting the impact of rising global interest rate benchmarks on floating rate debt.
  • During July-April FY2022, workers’ remittances reached US$ 26.1billion as compared to US$ 22.2 billion last year, increased by 7.6 percent.
  • YoY, remittances increased by 11.9 percent to US$ 3.1 billion in April 2022 as compared to US$ 2.8 billion in April 2021. Workers’ remittances crossed US$ 3 billion mark first time ever.
  • The financial account recorded net an inflow of US$ 8.3 billion during July-April FY2022, which were sharply higher than inflows of US$ 4.5 billion received in the same period last year. Ever then, these were not sufficient to offset current account deficit.
  • The net FDI reached US$ 1455.6 million during July-April FY2022 as compared to US$ 1480.0 million last year, decreased by 1.6 percent.
  • The highest FDI received from China US$ 355.8 million (24.4 percent of total FDI), United States US$ 223.4 million (15.3 percent), Hong Kong US$ 133.9 million (9.2% of total FDI), Switzerland US$ 119.8 million (8.2%) U.A.E US$ 118.2 million (8.1 %) and Singapore US$ 97.4 million (6.7%).
  • Foreign exchange reserves stood at US$ 16.40 billion till end-April FY2022.
  • Out of this, SBP reserves were US$ 10.49 billion, whereas reserves held with commercial banks were US$ 5.907 billion.
  • The average exchange rate during July-April FY2022 remained at Rs 172.95 to a dollar.

Public Debt

  • Total public debt was Rs 44,366 billion at end-March 2022.
  • Domestic debt was Rs 28,076 billion and external public debt was Rs 16,290 billion or US$ 88.8 billion at end March-2022.
  • During July-March FY2022, within domestic debt, government relied entirely on long-term domestic debt securities for the financing of its fiscal deficit and repayment of debt maturities. In fact, the government retired/repaid a portion of Treasury Bills amounting to Rs 1.5 trillion which led to a reduction of short-term maturities in-line with the government’s commitment to reduce its Gross Financing Needs.
  • In-line with government’s commitment, no borrowing was made from SBP. Infact, government repaid Rs 569 billion against SBP Debt during July-March FY2022. Cumulative debt retirement against SBP debt stood at Rs 2.3 trillion from July 2019 to March 2022.
  • The government successfully issued Shariah Compliant Sukuk instruments amounting to around Rs 1.1 trillion during July-March FY2022, in line with the target specified in Medium Term Debt Management Strategy of Pakistan (2019/20 – 2022/23), to increase the share of Shariah compliant securities within domestic debt stock.
  • Debt from multilateral and bilateral sources cumulatively constituted around 79 percent of the external public debt portfolio at end-March 2022.
  • Successful completion of the 6th review of the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) led to the disbursement of US$ 1,053 million.
  • Government received worth US$ 3,000 million deposits from Saudi Arabia which were utilized for budgetary support.
  • During July-March FY2022, inflows from multilateral and bilateral development partners remained major sources of external funding. In addition, Pakistan successfully raised US$ 1 billion in July 2021 through multi-tranche tap issuance of 5-, 10- and 30-year Eurobonds.
  • In January 2022, Pakistan successfully raised US$ 1 billion through the issuance of International Sukuk under the ‘Trust Certificate Issuance Program’. This wasthe first time that government has issued International Sukuk with 7 Year maturity and at market-clearing price i.e., zero issuance premium.
  • Government repaid US$ 1 billion against maturing International Sukuks in October 2021.
  • Government utilized IMF allocated SDR equivalent to Rs 475 billion to support its budgetary operations.

Education

  • In total, 55.7 million enrolments were recorded as compared to 53.1 million during 2018-19, showing an increase of 4.9 percent. It is estimated to increase to 58.5 million during 2020-21.
  • The number of institutions recorded at 277.5 thousands during 2019-20 as compared to 271.8 thousand during 2018-19. However, the numbers of institutions are estimated to increase to 283.7 thousand in 2020-21.
  • Similarly, there were 1.83 million teachers in 2019-20 as compared to 1.79 million last year. The number of teachers is estimated to increase to 1.89 million during 2020-21.
  • According to Labour Force Survey 2020-21, literacy rate remained 62.8 percent in 2020-21 (as compared to 62.4 percent in 2018-19), more in males (from 73.0 percent to 73.4 percent) than females (from 51.5 percent to 51.9 percent). Area-wise analysis suggest literacy increase in both rural (53.7 percent to 54.0 percent) and urban (76.1 percent to 77.3 percent). Male-female disparity seems to be narrowing down with time span.
  • Literacy rate gone up in all provinces, Punjab (66.1 percent to 66.3 percent), Sindh (61.6 percent to 61.8 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (52.4 percent to 55.1 percent) and Balochistan (53.9 percent to 54.5 percent).
  • Cumulative education expenditures by Federal and Provincial Governments in FY2021 remained at 1.77 percent of GDP (revised estimates). The education-related expenditures during FY2021 witnessed an increase of 9.7 percent, reaching Rs 988 billion from Rs 901 billion.
  • During FY2022, the Government initially allocated Rs 42.450 billion to HEC for implementation of 168 development projects (128 ongoing & 40 new approved projects) of Public Sector Universities/HEIs. However, later on, the PSDP FY2022 was rationalized/curtailed by Government to Rs 32.338 billion. During FY2022 (July-April), Rs 24.242 billion around 62 percent of the funds allocation) has been released to HEC/Public Sector Universities/HEIs for meeting expenditure against ongoing projects for various activities.

Health and Nutrition

  • SDGs Index claims to track country’s performance on the 17 SDGs. Pakistan with an overall Index score of 63.5 in 2020, means that the country is on average 63.5 percent on the way to the best possible outcome across 17 SDGs. This score is 19.5 percent up from the baseline of the 2015 that is, 53.1 percent.
  • The health expenditure increased by 30 percent from Rs 505.4 billion in FY2020 to Rs 657.2 billion in FY2021.Public sector expenditure on health was estimated at 1.2 percent of GDP in 2020-21, as compared to 1.1 percent in 2019-20.
  • PSDP 2021-22 allocations for health sector is of Rs 19336.688 million. There are 60 health sector projects in PSDP 2022 to the tune of total cost of Rs 137558.994 million and the expenditure up to 30-06-2021 is Rs 30996.667.
  • Sehat Sahulat programme is providing services to more than 44.6 million families (approximately 154 million lives) across the country.
  • M/o NHSR&C initiated the development of a national health information system to improve the overall quality of health services.
  • From January 2020 to March 2022, 51,546 flights screened to trace COVID-19 cases, a total of 8.42 million passengers were tested from which 3122 were COVID-19 positive with a positivity rate of 0.21 percent. All the flights were screened for two category of tests, that is, PCR C/UK Pax and RAT Pax 90, 288 and 1.50 million respectively.
  • As on 28th May 2022, the total numbers of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered were recorded at 249 million with 135 million partially and 123 million fully vaccinated (As per NCOC data).
  • Despite having an overburdened and underequipped health system, Pakistan contained the COVID-19 outbreak successfully.
  • In the first half of FY2022, NDMA procured vaccines worth of US$1.4 billion for 174.68 million vaccine doses (enough for 98 million population) through 17x contracts with various manufacturers/suppliers. In addition, NDMA also coordinated and ensured transportation of 6 million doses of vaccine provided on gratis/ donation basis.
  • The assets of worth Rs 306.56 million were frozen while assets amounting Rs 0.448 million were fortified by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to reduce the supply of drugs from July-December 2021.

Population Labour Force and Employment

  • According to the National Institute of Population Studies (NIPS), the estimated population of Pakistan is 224.78 million in 2021 of which 82.83 million reside in urban areas, where 141.96 million live in rural areas.
  • According to the Labour Force Survey 2020-21, total labour force is 71.76 million out of which 67.25 million are employed and 4.51 million are unemployed.
  • Unemployment rate decreased from 6.9 percent in 2018-19 to 6.3 percent in 2020-21.
  • The share of employment in agriculture sector is 37.4 percent, followed by services sector ( 37.2 percent)  and industry sector (25.4 percent) in  2020-21.
  • Under Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (PMKJ-YES) the government has disbursed Rs 44,972 million till April 2022 for businesses.
  • During 2021, Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE) has registered 286,648 workers for overseas employment in different countries.

Transport and Communication

  • For calendar year 2021, Operating revenues of PIA have decreased by 9.2 percent to Rs 86.2 billion while, Operating expenses have increased by 5.79 percent from Rs 95.67 billion to Rs 101.2 billion. A loss of Rs 15 billion was incurred
  • The present NHA network comprises of 48 national highways, motorways and strategic roads. Current length of this network is 14,480 KMs.
  • NHA portfolio in PSDP 2021-2022 consists of a total of 68 projects with a total budget of Rs 155,416.67 million.
  • The PNSC Group has managed to achieve 98 percent increase in profit after tax to Rs 2,446 million as against Rs 1,235 million in the corresponding period last year.
  • At present, PNSC fleet comprises of 11 vessels of various type/size (05 Bulk carriers, 04 Aframax tankers and 02 LR-1 Clean Product tankers) with a total deadweight capacity (cargo carrying capacity) of 831,711 metric tons, i.e. highest ever carrying capacity since inception of PNSC.
  • Karachi Port Trust managed a total cargo container volume of 39,713 million tonnes. It recorded 1 percent increase in total cargo and container handling over the last year. While import cargo container decreased by 2 percent and export increased by 7 percent during 2021-22
  • Port Qasim Authority handled a total cargo volume of 42.199 million tonnes in first nine months of FY2022. Out of which 35.834 million tonnes were imported and 6.365 million tonnes were exported. Total trade activity at Karachi Port Trust declined by 27.2 percent during July-March FY2022 to 42.199 million tons from 57.993 million tons in the same period last year.
  • Pakistan Railways comprised of a total of 466 Locomotives for 7,791 Km route length. During July-March 2022. Gross earnings of Pakistan Railways, during July-March, FY2022, decreased by 10 percent to Rs 43.7 billion (Rs 48.6 billion last year)
  • During FY2022, PEMRA issued 265 Licenses for FM Radio and 4,152 Cable TV Licenses.
  • PTV is operating 7 channels like PTV Home, PTV News, PTV Sports, PTV Global, PTV National, PTV Bolan and PTV World. Pakistan Television covers 100 percent area of population on terrestrial network. The total of registered TV Set holders as on 31-12-2021 are 23,214,967.
  • Pakistan Post launched its own Mobile App. The App offers postal services tariffs, post codes, post office locator complaint registration, Track and Trace & Pick up facility.
  • Pakistan Post has launched a specialized service for export sector. EMS Plus is modeled to compete with local and international courier companies. Rates are competitive with real time track and trace facility. The service will bring down business cost for small and medium exporters.
  • CPEC is a flagship and most actively implemented project of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) where Pakistan and China have successfully launched 56 projects on the ground. Out of these projects, 26 projects worth approximately US$17 billion have been completed so far and 30 projects worth US$8.5 billion are under construction.

Information Technology

  • IT exports during (July-March FY2022) surged to US$1.948 billion at a growth rate of 29.26 percent in comparison to US$1.5 billion during July-March FY2021.
  • A loan agreement was signed between Economic Affairs Division and EXIM Bank of Korea worth US$158 million for establishment of Pakistan’s largest IT Park in Karachi.
  • IGNITE has successfully established 5 National Incubation Centers (NIC) in Federal Capital and all Provincial Capitals of the country. From July-December FY2022, more than 930 startups have been inducted in five NICs (Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi & Quetta).
  • NITB developed Islamabad city app which ensures online provision of more than 40 government services including registration process of domicile, international driving permit, court cases, excise and taxation, arms license, etc.
  • The investment (FDI & Local) in the telecom sector during July to February 2021-22 crossed US$930.1million.
  • Telecom sector is a significant source of revenue generation for the national exchequer. During July 2021 to March 2022, telecom sector contributed Rs 163.3 billion (estimated) to the national exchequer in terms of taxes, regulatory fees, initial and annual license fees, activation tax, and other taxes.
  • By the end of February 2022, the total number of subscriptions (Mobile and Fixed) in Pakistan reached 194.2 million. Net addition of 6.7 million subscribers has been reported translating into a growth of 3.64 percent during 2021-22 (July-February).

Energy

  • Import bill of oil increased by 95.9 percent to US$17.03 billion during July-April, FY2022 compared to US$8.69 billion during the same period last year.
  • The surge in oil import bill is attributed to rise in value as well as demand as the import of petroleum products went up by 121.15 percent in value and 24.18 percent in quantity.
  • Liquefied Natural Gas witnessed an increase of 82.90 percent in value, while Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) imports also jumped by 39.86 percent during July-April, FY2022.
  • During July-February, FY2022, 75.64 percent gas is produced domestically, while 24.36 percent of gas is being imported.
  • The overall electricity generation from coal has reached to 5,280 MW. Thar coal is contributing 1,320 MW, while imported coal contribution in electricity generation is 3,960 MW which is around 75 percent of the total electricity generation from coal in the country.
  • Currently, the Hydro installed capacity is 10,251 MW which is around 25 percent of the total installed capacity.
  • The contribution of Wind in the total installed capacity is 4.8 percent and currently stood at 1,985 MW.
  • The installed capacity of solar is 600 MW which is around 1.4 percent of the total installed capacity.
  • The gross capacity of the nuclear power plants was 2,530 MW during July-March, FY2021, which increased by 39 percent and it stood at 3,530 MW during July-March FY2022.
  • The total electricity generation capacity during July-April 2022 has increased by 11.5 percent and reached 41,557 MW from 37261 MW during the same period last fiscal year.
  • The percentage share of Hydel in total installed fuel-wise capacity has marginally reduced to 24.7 percent during July-April, FY2022 as compared to its share in FY2021.
  • The contribution of RLNG in the installed capacity has increased to 23.8 percent in July-April 2022 from 19.66 percent.
  • There is a slight shift in the percentage share of different sources in electricity generation. Thermal has still the largest share in electricity generation although its percentage contribution has declined from 62.5 percent during Jul-April FY2021 to 60.9 percent during Jul-April FY2022.
  • The percentage contribution of Hydel in electricity generation has also reduced from 27.8 percent in Jul-April FY2021 to 23.7 percent during Jul-April FY2022.
  • The percentage share of Nuclear has increased from 7.2 percent during Jul-April FY2021 to 12.35 percent during Jul-April, FY2022.
  • The contribution of renewable in the electricity generation has increased from 2.4 percent during Jul-April FY2021 to 3.02 percent in the first ten months of FY2022.
  • The first 10 months of the current fiscal year has not seen any major shift in the consumption pattern of electricity. The share of household in electricity consumption has slightly declined from 49.1 percent in FY2021 to 47.0 percent in FY2022.
  • The share of Industry in electricity consumption has increased to 28 percent during July-April FY2022 from 26.3 percent during July-April FY2021.
  • The indigenous supply of natural gas witnessed a decline of around 5 percent and its contribution recorded at 33.1 percent in the total primary energy supply mix of the country.
  • The average natural gas consumption has declined from 3,723 MMCFD to about 3,565 MMCFD during July-March FY2022.
  • The consumption of natural gas in power sector has reduced from 610 MMCFD to 560 MMCFD.
  • Commercial sector witnessed a decline in the use of gas and its consumption registered at 62 MMCFD during July-March FY2022.
  • The use of gas (CNG) in the transport sector has declined to 49 MMCFD from 63 MMCFD.
  • During FY2021, domestic coal production figured around 9.3 million tonnes, and about 18.9 million tonnes of coal were imported. During July-February FY2022, the import of coal stood at 12.21 million metric tons.
  • Power sector uses most of the coal and the share has increased to 44.5 percent during July-March FY2022 from 42.7 percent during the corresponding period last year.
  • CPEC benefits Pakistan through development of multi-sector infrastructure projects including various projects in the energy sector. Thirteen power generation projects of 11,648 MW are being facilitated by PPIB under CPEC.

Social Protection

  • BISP is currently disbursing payments to around 5.7 million regular beneficiaries under Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme and the number of regular beneficiaries has been enhanced to 8.0 million.
  • The second phase of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme (ECAP-II) has been launched in June, 2021. As of 30-03-2022, an amount of Rs 30.18 billion has been disbursed to 2.50 million additional beneficiaries (other than UCT beneficiaries) @ Rs 12,000/- per beneficiaries to ever-married women of the eligible families having valid CNIC.
  • Under Ehsaas Taleemi Wazaif Programme, 6.52 million children have been enrolled and Rs 25 billion has been paid till March, 2022.
  • Under Ehsaas undergraduate scholarship programme, 1,38,133 scholarships were awarded to deserving students and Rs 13.2 billion were disbursed during FY2020 and FY2021.
  • For FY2022, Rs 9.5 billion were allocated and 122,000 applications have been received and its screening is under process.
  • 50 Ehsaas Nashonuma Centres across 14 districts has been established countrywide to provide health services and conditional cash transfers under two years old; Rs 1500/- for a boy child and mother, and Rs 2000/- for a girl child mainly to prevent children from stunting growth issue.
  • 99,190 beneficiaries have been enrolled and Rs 310.81 million has been disbursed till March FY2022.
  • Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) also deals in micro-credit, water, health, education, and livelihood. PPAF disbursed an amount of Rs 2.11 billion during July-March FY2022 through its Partner Organizations (POs) in 144 districts across the country.
  • Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) is providing financial assistance to destitute, widows, orphans, invalid, infirm and other needy persons at the district level. During July -March FY2022, PBM has disbursed an amount of Rs 4.0 billion through its core projects.
  • Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) during July-March, FY2022 disbursed Rs 1.43 billion on 15,004 scholarship cases while Rs 244.07 million as Marriage Grant @200,000/- which benefitted 1819 workers’ families. The WWF has also disbursed Rs 420.4 million as Death Grant (@600,000/-) to 804 cases of mishaps of workers all over the country.
  • EOBI provides monetary benefits to old age workers through various programmes such as Old Age Pension, Invalidity Pension, Survivors Pension and Old Age Grant. EOBI have registered 9,429,281 employees. During FY2022, EOBI registered 307,296 new employees. During July-March FY2022, an amount of Rs 33.54 billion has been disbursed by EOBI.

Climate Change

  • According to the National Forest Reference Emissions Level (FREL) findings, the country is maintaining 4.786 million-hectare (5.45 percent) area under forest cover
  • Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme has planted 579.093 million plants during July-March, FY2022 and cumulatively has attained level of 1586.18 million plants till March 2022. Through this programme 327,877 man-months have been employed uptil March 2022
  • Billion Tree Honey Initiative is launched as a coherent effort of different Ministries/ Agencies to promote apiculture in the country
  • Ministry of Climate Change updated National Climate Change Policy of Pakistan. The goal of this policy is to steer Pakistan towards climate resilient and low carbon development
  • Pakistan Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commit to abate overall 50 percent of Pakistan’s projected GHG emissions by 2030. This commitment will be contributed by the shift to 60 percent renewable energy for electricity generation, and 30 percent to electric vehicles by 2030 and complete ban on the use of imported coal.
Mati
Mati
Mati-Ullah is the Online Editor For DND. He is the real man to handle the team around the Country and get news from them and provide to you instantly.

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