Finance division releases economic outlook report as exports, imports surge

ISLAMABAD: Finance ministry on Monday released an economic outlook report for the month of July 2021, showing an increase in exports, imports, tax collection and production of large-scale manufacturing (LSM), ARY NEWS reported.

According to the report, the remittances from overseas Pakistanis, non-taxable income and foreign investment saw a decline in the month of July 2021.

It highlighted that remittances saw a 2.1 percent decline in July after US$2.7 billion were sent from the overseas Pakistanis. The exports stood at US$2.3 billion with a 19.7 percent increase, along with a 51.7 percent hike in imports to US$5.4 billion.

An imbalance in the imports and exports led to a current account deficit of US$0.8 billion that accounts for 2.8 percent of the GDP.

Direct foreign investment (FDI) witnessed a 30.1 percent decline to stand at US$89.9 million, while portfolio investment saw an improvement to US$1.02 billion.

The economic outlook report stated that the foreign exchange reserves stood at US$27.31 billion with SBP holding US$20.26 billion while commercial banks had US$7.04 billion. The dollar has been sold out at Rs165.21 in interbank, it said.

Sharing the taxation details, the report shared revenue collection saw a 42.5 percent increase in July to Rs414 billion while the non-tax revenues stood at Rs1631 billion, witnessing a 12.3 percent decline.

Funds of Rs133.7 billion were approved under the PSDP as the financial deficit saw an increase upto Rs3403 billion.