April,13(A. E Report) ——State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Foreign exchange reserves decreased $170 million, clocking in at $4.04 billion as of April 7, data released on Thursday showed.The overall number stands at a critical level at around a month of import cover.Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $9.56 billion. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks clocked in at $5.53 billion.“During the week ended on April 7, 2023, SBP’s reserves decreased by $170 million to $4,038.3 million due to external debt repayments,” said a statement from SBP.Last week, foreign exchange reserves of SBP decreased $36 million.On Wednesday, an official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed confidence that the staff-...
April 13, 2023 at 7:32 pm | Economic Affairs
April,13(A. E Report)——Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MARI), one of Pakistan’s top energy companies, has entered into an agreement with Orient Petroleum Inc (OPI), an exploration and production company, for the provision of Early Production Facilities (EPF) on a turn-key basis for Shewa-I Discovery in Waziristan Block.MARI shared the development in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday that OPI will “provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a period of twenty-four months from the start of production,” read the notice. The contract also has a provision for MARI to purchase the EPF equipment.Last year in June, MARI announced the discovery of gas & condensate at Shewa-I (formerly Bannu West-...
April 13, 2023 at 3:29 pm | Economic Affairs
April,13(Agencies)——China’s coal imports surged in March to their highest in any month over the past three years as utilities increased purchases on expectations for a demand recovery and after curbs on bringing in Australian coal were removed.World’s top coal consumer brought in 41.17 million tonnes last month, the highest level since January 2020, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.That compares to an average of 30.32 million tonnes per month in the January-February period, and represents an increase of 151% from March last year.For the first quarter of 2023, China imported a total of 101.8 million tonnes of coal, nearly doubling from a low base last year, the data showed.Coal demand in China being...
April 13, 2023 at 2:55 pm | Economic Affairs
April,13(Agencies)——UK economy unexpectedly stalled in February with the country facing more strikes as a cost-of-living crisis erodes the value of wages, official data showed Thursday.The zero-growth performance followed a 0.4-percent expansion in January, the Office for National Statistics said, while the latest reading was worse than analyst expectations.Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said public-sector strikes including by teachers hit output, while “unseasonably mild weather led to falls in the use of electricity and gas”.However, construction picked up after a “poor” January and retail won a boost as many shops had a “buoyant month”, he added. Britain’s economy had rebounded in January...
April 13, 2023 at 2:53 pm | Economic Affairs
April,13(A. E Report)—— Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) has announced of extending it motorcycle plant shut until April 28th. Decision was made due to the ongoing import restrictions that have affected the auto sector, causing a shortage of inventory.“Due to shortage of inventory level… the management of the company has decided to extend shutdown period of its motorcycle plant till April 28, 2023,” read a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).Earlier this month, PSMC had already shut down its motorcycle plant from April 04 to April 15 due to a lack of raw materials. Meanwhile, the automobile plant was shut from April 07 to April 14.PMSC is the assembler, manufacturer, and marketer of Suzuki cars, pickups, vans, 4x4s and mot...
April 13, 2023 at 1:38 pm | Economic Affairs
April,12(Agencies)—— U.S. stock indexes were higher on Wednesday on raising hopes that the Federal Reserve could hit pause on its interest rate hiking cycle soon as data showed consumer prices cooled faster than expected in March.The Labor Department data showed headline and core CPI in March rose 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively, on a month-on-month basis. Economists were expecting a rise of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.Investors are also awaiting the first-quarter earnings season, which begins in earnest on Friday with results from three major banks, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co.At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 155.96 points, or 0.46%, at 33,840.75, the S&P 500 was up 13.20 poi...
April 12, 2023 at 10:36 pm | Economic Affairs
April,12(A. E Report)—— Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed a bullish intra-day session with over 300 points increase where benchmark KSE-100 index was hovering above the 40,000 level at mid-day, the benchmark index was being traded at 40,127.97, an increase of 323.26 points or 0.81%.Buying across-the-board was witnessed with the index-heavy sectors including, automobile, cement, chemical, commercial banks, pharmaceuticals and refinery trading in the green.Experts said that the improvement in market sentiments comes amid reports that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is likely to confirm financing of $1 billion in the coming days.Minister of State for Finance, Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha said a day earlier of Saudi Arabia assurance to Intern...
April 12, 2023 at 4:26 pm | Economic Affairs
April,12(A. E Report)——Pakistani rupee recovered some ground against US dollar a day after plunging to all-time lows by appreciating 0.63% in inter-bank market Wednesday.According to State Bank(SBP), local currency settled at 286.62 with an increase of Rs1.81.That comes a day after where rupee dipped to a new all-time low against the US dollar, settling at 288.43 in the inter-bank market after a loss of Rs1.34 or 0.46%.Market experts attributed the fall towards lack of developments on the resumption of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, which has remained stalled since last year. Resumption of the IMF program is crucial for cash-strapped South Asian economy, which is battling high inflation and low foreign exchange reserves...
April 12, 2023 at 4:26 pm | Economic Affairs
April,11(A. E Report)—— Pakistani rupee took a significant dip of 0.85 percent by opening week against US dollar in inter-bank market and closed at 287.09, down 2.44.Rupee depreciated 0.3% to close at 284.65 last week. The currency fell in four of five sessions with the only gain being on Thursday, the day when a finance ministry official said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had indicated that it has gotten a financing assurance from Saudi Arabia.On Saturday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the staff-level agreement between Pakistan and the IMF was taking time solely because of delay in confirmation of funding from a friendly country.The financing confirmation would bridge Pakistan's external account gap and meet the last conditi...
April 10, 2023 at 7:54 pm | Economic Affairs
April,11(Agencies)—— Malaysian palm oil futures dropped for a fourth session on Monday due to the absence of fresh destination buying, which hurt market sentiments, despite a tighter supply situation at origins.The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 0.11% to 3,790 ringgit ($860.00) per tonne by the midday break, extending a 4.26% loss over the past three sessions.“BMD crude palm oil futures opened lower following weakness in Dalian palm olein and soyoil futures and in expectations of a drop in Malaysian palm oil export between April 1-10,” said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.Data released during midday break showed Mala...
April 10, 2023 at 7:53 pm | Economic Affairs
Pakistan Rupee Exchange Rate