USD/PKR Maintains Above 154.220 on Tuesday

USD/PKR shows slight improvement on Tuesday. The pair is currently trading at 154.225, up 0.21% as of 8:50 AM UTC. Note that the rate of Pakistani rupee is controlled by the government, which means it hardly fluctuates against the US dollar. The pair has maintained within the 154.000 territory since October last year.

On Sunday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its ten-day mission in Pakistan, concluding that the country had made real progress towards economic revival.

Textile Exports Rose 4% in First 7 Months of FY2020

Yesterday, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said that textile exports rose 4% year-on-year to $8 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The agency stated that value-added exports demonstrated signs of improvement during the period.

Readymade garments, one of the key value-added markets, added $1.6 billion or 10.8% in July-January of the fiscal year 2020 compared to $1.5 billion in the same period of FY2019. Bedwear exports gained about 3% to $1.3 billion. Knitwear exports rose 6.2% to $1.8 billion during the period.

In January alone, textile exports rose 2.3% year-on-year and 4.6% in monthly terms.

As for food exports, the measure rose about 6% in July-January, to $2.6 billion. Rice exports gained 15.1% to $1.2 billion. Basmati exports surged 52% to $445 million while export of fish and fish preparations jumped 16.5% to $253 million.

The overall exports measure increased by 2.2% year-on-year during the first seven months of FY2020. It seems that the gradual devaluation of the Pakistani rupee is supporting the export-oriented sector. On the other hand, import-oriented firms are suffering. Total imports during the July-January period declined by 15.6% to $27.3 billion.

Foreign Direct Investment Jumps 65.7%

Elsewhere, the State Bank of Pakistan said that the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) surged 65.7% to $1.563 billion in the July-January period, compared to $943.6 million in the corresponding period of FY2019. In January alone, FDI inflows were $223.1 million, compared with $146.8 million in the same period of the previous year.

The increase in FDI was driven by higher inflows from China and Norway. Net direct investment from China rose to $532.8 million in July-January FY2020 from $282.6 million recorded in the previous year.

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