The Finance Ministry has informed the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet that the external accounts position of Pakistan has been continuously improving but prospect for the balance of payments hinges significantly on the magnitude and timing of external inflows as well as the outlook for international oil and commodity prices during the current financial year 2009-10.
According to sources, in presentation "Review of the Key Economic Indicators' and Presentation to ECC on Pakistan Economy, on October 27, 2009 Finance Ministry noted that Pakistan's economy is going through tentative recovery phase. It was stated that market gained confidence towards economic stabilisation due to business-friendly budget and well-received textile policy.
"After several months of output decline the real sector of economy-large scale manufacturing and exports, in particular, are depicting a turning point", Finance Ministry representative stated in ECC meeting. It was pointed out that investment conditions, as well as intentions, appeared to have improved noticeably.
The trend of disinflation (a positive, but declining rate of inflation) in the economy has continued. Workers' remittances amounted to $2,331.5 million in July-September 2009-10 against $1,879.8 million, showing an increase of 24.03 percent over the same period of last year.
The UAE, being the largest source of workers' remittances, accounted for 21.6 percent ($504.0 million), followed by USA $498.8 million, Saudi Arabia $430.8 million, other GCC countries $323.9 million and UK $235.1 million. ECC took note of price situation of critical food and non-food items.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of September 2009 stood at 10.1percent against 10.7percent in August 2009. The Sensitive Price Index (SPI) for the week ending October 22, 2009 increased by 0.26percent over the week on October 15, 2009 showing an average increase of 6.84percent over the corresponding week of last year.
Inflation (year on year) on the basis of SPI had shown a declining trend since mid July 2009. It was stated that the trade deficit was $3.09 billion in July-September 2009 vis-a-vis $5.59 billion during the same period of last year, showing an improvement of 44.7 percent. Total sugar stock in the country was 920,533 tons compared to 1,267,644 tons last year on October 20, 2008.