Ramzan; Pakistan Economic Survey; Indian IT Job Losses; Trump's Foreign Tour

What is Ramadan all about? Is it only about abstaining from food and drink in the daylight hours? What is the key message for this Ramzan? Isn't respecting Huqooq-ul-Ibad (human rights of others) as important as observing Huqooq-ul-Allah (Duties to Allah such as prayer and fasting) for each Muslim? What must Muslims do this Ramzan to fulfill all of their obligations to Allah and His creation?

What does the Economic Survey of Pakistan say about Pakistan's GDP, per capita income, infrastructure development, education and other important indicators? What must Pakistani leaders do to ensure greater focus on and investment in education and not just in infrastructure? What is the size of and the key priorities in Pakistan's budget for 2017-18? Should some of the $20 billion (out of the $50 billion budget) for infrastructure be allocated to education to boost Pakistan's stagnant literacy and school enrollment rates?



Why is India losing IT jobs at a rate of 200,000 jobs a year, according to McKinsey? Is it all because of Trump's H1B visa tightening? Or does it have more to do with the need for new skills to deal with new technologies such as cloud computing and digital services?

What was the objective of Trump's tour of the Middle East and Europe? Has he achieved any of the objectives? Was Nawaz Sharif's low-key presence at the Riyadh summit appropriate? Are Nawaz Sharif's critics right? Should he have had a more prominent role at the US-Arab-Islamic summit? How would that impact Iran-Pakistan ties?


Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

https://youtu.be/ojEvEICkimA




Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Riaz Haq's Ramadan Sermon

Pakistan's Lagging Literacy and School Enrollment Rates

Impact of Trump's H1B Visa Crackdown

Impact of Trump's Appointments on US Policy

Iran-Saudi Conflict

Talk4Pak Youtube Channel



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Comment by Riaz Haq on May 29, 2017 at 7:49am

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > BUSINESS
Pakistan Economic Survey – ups and downs

By DR MANZOOR AHMADPublished: May 29, 2017

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1421663/pakistan-economic-survey-ups-d...

Looking at the sub-components of growth, there is good news from agriculture, which showed a positive growth of 3.5% versus actual contraction of 0.27% last year. This change may be attributed to a 3.02% growth in crops (cotton, sugarcane, maize and gram) against a negative growth of 4.97% last year.

The government’s active attention to this sector through the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Kisan Package and increased disbursement of Rs700-billion credit may have helped the turnaround. However, the performance of industrial sector, with a growth of 5% against the target of 7.7% in 2016-17, is not very encouraging. Despite some bright spots such as those related to construction industry (iron and steel and cement), other key sectors such as fertilisers and engineering products were almost stagnant.

Growth of services (5.98%) is mostly because of banking and insurance, which grew 10.77%.

Similarly another sector, government services, showed a growth of 6.91%. While the growth in government services indicates increased expenditure and as such is not a healthy sign, the growth in the banking sector means higher deposit mobilisation, which is a positive indicator.

Tax policies

There is slight improvement in government’s taxation policies towards telecom and mobile phone sector. This would, to some extent, balance the negative fallout of the anti-telecom policies followed over the last four years. Hopefully, this will once again make Pakistan an attractive market for foreign investors.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, in the last nine months, the FDI decreased $82 million. The government is finally realising that when its policies were favourable to this sector, it flourished and attracted FDI of approximately $5.7 billion (net).

‘Economy will prosper through industrial activity, innovation’

Furthermore, Pakistan’s high growth from 2003 to 2007 had a lot to do with liberalisation during that period.

Total debt has risen to Rs20,872 billion compared to Rs14,318 billion in 2013. Thus, during the last four years, the debt has risen by almost 50%. Already this year, interest payment on debt was the largest single expense for the country.

Next year Pakistan’s external debt servicing is estimated to be 25% higher than a year ago, which was $5.3 billion. It seems that increased spending on debt servicing will continue to be a major drag on the economic growth for years to come.

Another worrying development is the continuous fall in exports since the PML-N government came to power. In the first nine months of the current year, there was a further decline of 3.06% with exports volume shrinking to $15.119 billion.

The finance minister normally avoids speaking about exports as if this is irrelevant to the economy. What he has to realise is that this significant fall in exports has been one of the biggest failures of this government.

There may be many reasons for this poor performance but the most obvious one is the anti-export bias in the tax policies. With every budget for the last four years, the finance ministry has been increasing taxes on international trade either to curb imports or raise higher revenue. These policies have isolated Pakistan from international markets with the result that the country’s exports have fallen.

With the widening of fiscal deficit, slowing down of remittances and foreign direct investments and increasing circular debt, the government may find it difficult to keep the economy afloat without more borrowing.

Furthermore, it is not likely that during the forthcoming election year, the government would maintain the ongoing reform process, which has been steady, even if slow. All these factors may result in the next government having to face serious economic challenges.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 30, 2017 at 10:30pm

Pakistan Budget 2017-2018: Debunking The Myths
http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/05/pakistan-budget-2017-2018/

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The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is likely increasing the country’s defense spending by 7% due to the growing need to safeguard China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and be better prepared to fend off any potential military threat from India. However, critics accuse the government of sugarcoating the budget ahead of the national elections.

For fiscal 2017/18, Pakistan is setting its military budget at $9 billion, compared to $8.4 last year. By contrast, Pakistan’s biggest enemy India unveiled its own new budget in February with defense spending standing at more than $50 billion, according to the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses.

As much as $20 billion of the budget’s $50 billion will go toward development, $1.8 billion of which is set to finance CPEC projects. An op-ed published by DAWN suggests that there is a “Chinese footprint” on the Pakistani budget. As such, one can argue that the Chinese would allocate more money to CPEC projects if they were so keen on pushing forward the projects that matter to their national interests and not caring about Pakistan and its economic well-being whatsoever.


-------------

One of the most prominent examples is Geo’s mud slinging for not increasing Pakistan’s health expenditures fourfold even though this year the government has increased health expenditures by nearly two times, from Rs. 29 billion to Rs. 49 billion.

For a country that is only beginning to soak up all the benefits from incoming foreign investments and is only beginning to enter the world as an emerging market, increasing expenditures by two times in any of the sectors already deserves praise. And in the case of CPEC, a whopping $150 billion in foreign investments is expected to flow into Pakistan in the coming years, according to last year’s summit of top government leaders and investors


---------------


Umar Saif ‏Verified account @umarsaif May 29


Pakistan's education budget of Rs790 Billion compared to Rs 860 Billion Defence.Includes Federal&Provincial budgets both current&development 

pic.twitter.com/1ljY5WrpR9

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 31, 2017 at 10:14am

Should we double the education budget, or seek 100pc literacy?
AHMAD ALI | NADIA NAVIWALAUPDATED A DAY AGO
Pakistan has doubled its budget in recent years, but enrollment has stagnated. As a result of the inefficient use of funds, access to quality education for children across the country stands compromised.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1335342

In recent years, the federal and provincial governments have undertaken numerous reforms with varying levels of success. Despite their efforts, a lot remains to be done to get kids into school and improve learning in the classrooms.

To address these educational challenges, the efficient and effective use of the available budget for education is key.

-------------

Provinces have allocated 17pc to 24pc of their budgets for education in 2016-17. (The provincial budgets for 2017-18 will be released in the coming weeks).


The ‘current budget’ is for salaries and operational costs (non-salary), whereas the ‘development budget’ is for the construction and rehabilitation of schools. Recent history suggests that provinces tend to under spend on development and non-salary budgets, but overspend on salaries, so that they end up utilising most of the education budget.


Unesco recommends that countries disburse 15pc to 20pc of their budgets on education. The global average is 14pc. Compared to its total national budget, Pakistan spends 13pc.

In Pakistan's case, this spending amounts to 2.83pc of the GDP on education. According to Alif Ailaan, an additional Rs400 billion on education is needed this year to increase spending to 4pc of GDP, bringing the education budget to Rs1.2 trillion.

Cutting a federal programme or collecting more taxes may help Pakistan towards that target. Cutting a federal programme or collecting more taxes may help Pakistan towards that target, but the dilemma of solving the education crisis will persist.

While Pakistan has doubled its budget and brought it closer to military spending, enrollment rates have stagnated.

Parents will send their kids to a private school, charging a few hundred rupees a month, if they can afford it. Nearly 40pc of students in Pakistan go to private schools. Their parents spend as much as the government does on education and tuition. If we add what Pakistani parents spend on education, Pakistan’s education spending exceeds 4pc of the GDP.

Children are out of school in Pakistan because they get so little out of going to school. Teachers are either absent, or present, but not teaching.

The 2015 report of the independent Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) finds that only 44pc of third graders in rural schools (public and private) can read a sentence in Urdu. Of those who stay in school through fifth grade, only 55pc can read a story in Urdu.

It is a similar story for science at a grade four level. In 2006, 67pc of students scored below average in the National Education Assessment System (NEAS) assessment of fourth grade science. The situation further deteriorated in 2014, when the most recent iteration of the NEAS assessment divulged that 79pc of students had scored below average.

The majority of children aged five to nine in Pakistan are in school. That’s 17 out of 22 million kids, according to the National Education Management System. Improving literacy and numeracy rates for them is our best shot at convincing the parents of Pakistan’s five million out-of-school children aged five to nine that school is worth it.

Overspending on salaries
Private school teachers are paid $25 to $50 per month. Government school teachers are paid $150 to $1,000 per month, according to a paper by SAHE and Alif Ailaan. Government school teachers have more education and training than private school teachers.

In light of the difference in teachers' salaries, private schools spend less than half of what the government does per child. However, according to LEAPS, children who go to private schools are one and a half to two grades ahead of those in government schools, depending on the subject.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 31, 2017 at 5:19pm

BBC News - A long term view: The man who took a chance on #Pakistan turned $1m #investment into $100m in 5 years. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40081530

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBMblHzVYAAkp2o.jpg



On 2 May 2011, the Barack Obama announced that Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US forces in Pakistan.
He was shot dead at a compound near Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. And once again, Pakistan was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
A country used to bad news - both politically and economically - it has long been seen as the basket-case economy of South Asia because of its slumping foreign reserves, weak currency and lack of foreign direct investment.
It was probably one of the last places on earth that a foreign investor would think to put their money.
But not Mattias Martinsson. Six months later, in October 2011, he launched Pakistan's first ever foreign equity fund.
In the beginning he couldn't get anyone to back the fund, so he invested $1m (£780,000) of his own cash and that of his partners. Today, that fund is worth $100m.

"It was a tough sell at the time," chuckles the soft-spoken Swede on the phone from Stockholm.
That's an understatement. At one point - soon after the bin Laden killing - things got so bad that furious Pakistani investors stoned the exchange because of the falling share prices.
"Then the US military bombed a Pakistani military base, and Pakistan initiated a blockade of the routes for Nato supplies. The market went down 10%," Mr Martinsson says.
But he stayed in the stock market, and in 2012, things started to turn around with a tax amnesty the government launched encourage the Pakistani diaspora to repatriate money.
"The market went up and we raised $50m in three months," he recalls.
It also marked the first time in decades that more money was coming into Pakistan then going out.


Outperforming
Almost a decade later, Mr Martinsson feels vindicated.
That's because on 1 June 2017, Pakistan enters the MSCI Emerging Markets Index - a sign that things are turning around for the once-struggling economy. And investors are already starting to pour in.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is made up of 23 high-growth economies including India, China and Brazil.
Pakistan's main index, the KSE 100 has consistently outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
If you had invested $100 into the KSE in January last year, it would now be worth $164. If you had put it into the MSCI, it would only be worth $137. That's a success that helped make the case for it to be included.

Being in the Emerging Markets Index is a reputational reassurance to investors about the growth prospects and transparency of companies in that country.
Pakistan used to be a part of the index, but was downgraded to frontier market because of the exchange's decision to shut down for four months in late 2008 after prices dropped dramatically. That meant foreign investors couldn't get their money out.
"We were kicked out in 2008 after the financial crisis because of measures Pakistan took at the time to stop foreign funds from fleeing the country. Obviously foreign investors got a rude shock," says Nadeem Naqvi, the Karachi Stock Exchange's managing director.
"We did a lot of lobbying and reforms to get re-included again into this index," he tells me from Karachi. And he assures me and investors, that the KSE will be a liquid market.
"Parliament passed the Pakistan Stock Exchanges Act in 2012, which has improved corporate governance and reforms to prevent a reoccurrence of what happened in 2008," he says.

China impact
Pakistan's gross domestic product (GDP) has also soared over the last few years, a lot of that is thanks to the growth in the middle classes, in part fuelled by the Chinese investment boom that is part of Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 2, 2017 at 3:48pm

2 Experts: What’s Next For “Emerging” Pakistan As ETF Sinks
Stocks in Pakistan, now an emerging market, faced pressure this week. Debt-fueled growth and an election are among the risks to watch.

http://www.barrons.com/articles/2-experts-whats-next-for-emerging-p...


Pakistan officially became an emerging market June 1 with MSCI's index re-categorization from frontier status, and yet the Pakistan ETF was this week's big loser among developing market funds.

Moving to a bigger class of equities should draw more investors to the underlying equities in the index. Pakistan's financial health is tethered positively to China's grand investment in infrastructure, but also to political whims motivated 2018 elections. Still, the government is likely to do what it should to prop up the economy and currency.

Yet this week, investors were selling on the news, and the Global X MSCI Pakistan exchange-traded fund (PAK) slipped 9%, making it the biggest loser among the developing-market funds we watch. The iShares Frontier Markets ETF (FM) slipped nearly 1% last week, and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) was flat. So what gives? The MSCI's reclassification deliberations were well known, and the Pakistan ETF is up about 18% over 12 months. That's not an outrageous return, with the iShares Frontier ETF up 14% over the past year, and the iShares Emerging Markets ETF is up 25% in that time frame.

Eurasia Group analysts Shailesh Kumar and Sasha Riser-Kositsky said in a recent note that Pakistan's US$48.6 billion budget is fairly prudent and will help encourage growth, however:

"Islamabad still must obtain another International Monetary Fund package in the coming years to shore up the country’s finances. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s last budget before next year’s elections gives the military plenty to cheer about as the government attempts to secure its support. There is little populist spending included, which could undermine Sharif’s standing with the electorate, though a more sound fiscal approach does provide general stability ... infrastructure spending is set to rise significantly, topping USD$3.9 billion in the coming year. Highway construction alone will draw $3 billion, a 70% increase from the previous year. However, these spending patterns will do little to improve quality of life in the short term or address chronic electricity shortfalls. A pledge to address the latter helped bring Sharif to power in 2013, but persistent rolling blackouts might undermine his chances of remaining there in 2018. He will likely instead tout his infrastructure spending to showcase his development agenda ...
This year’s 4.1% fiscal deficit target is closer to reality, [but] the government will find it difficult to achieve this goal ... privatization of state-owned enterprises is forecast to add $476 million to the fiscal coffers. The government had a similar target last year but only raised $170 million ...
Direct bank borrowing to fund the deficit is expected to be halved from $7.06 billion last year to $3.7 billion. This will likely be offset by an increase in marketable debt issuance (local and foreign). While this will help develop Pakistan’s bond markets, it will fuel upward pressure on yields, raise the interest expense in subsequent years, and drain reserves to service the debt."
Brown Brothers Harriman currency Strategist Win Thin et al add the kicker:

"Indo-Pakistani relations remain tense after the recent outbreak of killings in disputed Kashmir. Yet this is nothing new in a conflict that has been going on since independence was established for these two countries in 1946. Unfortunately, we have come to expect periodic outbreaks of violence in Kashmir."

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 2, 2017 at 4:01pm

Punjab unveils Rs1.977 trillion Budget 2017-18

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/punjab-govt-unveils-rs1-93...

LAHORE – Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha on Friday presented fifth provincial budget Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for upcoming fiscal year 2017-18 with total outlay of Rs1.977 billion.

The budget session was presided over by Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, and also attended by Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

The provincial minister said that the budget for the next fiscal year has the largest development programme amounting to Rs635 billion. She added that it was unprecedented in the country’s history among all provinces.

“The development budget is 15 per cent more than the current fiscal year,” Dr Ayesha said in her budget speech.

Earlier, the provincial cabinet approved the budget in a meeting presided over by CM Shehbaz Sharif.

Agriculture
The government has allocated 20 billion for agriculture in the province.
Development Programs

Rs635 billion allocated for annual development program.
Rs 95 billion for roads.
Rs57 billion have been allocated for Water and sanitation.
Health 

A total of 341 billion have been allocated for education in Punjab.
Rs57 billion have been fixed for health sector.
Rs 20 billion have been fixed for DHQs, THQs.
Primary healthcare will get a Rs1 billion boost in the next fiscal year.
An amount of Rs 20.4126 billion has been allocated in the fiscal year 2017-18 for the provision of free medicines.
Salaries & Pension

A 10 per cent raise has been made in the salaries and pension of provincial government employees.

Education

Rs52.35 billion will be allocated for school education.
A sum of Rs230 billion has been set aside for District Education Authorities.
Rs28 billion have been fixed for providing basic facilities at government schools.
Rs6.03 billion have been set aside for construction of new classrooms in Punjab schools.
Industries

A sum of Rs7.567 billion has been allocated for industries in the proposed budget.

TEVTA will receive about Rs5.054 billion as grant-in-aid, and an amount of Rs145.575 million has been reserved for Headquarters Establishment.
An amount of Rs179.354 million has been reserved for Inspectorate of Mines, whereas the Punjab Small Industries Corporation will get Rs1.420 billion as grant-in-aid.
Punjab Skills Development Project will receive Rs43.354 million. Sasti Roti Authority will receive Rs8.799 million and Rs180.397 million will be spent on the regional establishment. 

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 2, 2017 at 4:36pm

Here's an excerpt of Prophet Muhammad PBUH Ramadan sermon:

Give alms to the poor and indigent ones among you; surround your elderly with respect, and be kind to your youngsters. Visit your kin and safeguard your tongues and do not look at what Allah has decreed as prohibitive for you to look at, and do not listen to anything your ears are forbidden from hearing. Be kind to the orphans of others, so that your own orphans will equally receive kindness. Repent your sins to Almighty Allah and raise your hands to Him in supplication during the times of your prayers, for they are the best times during which Almighty Allah looks with mercy to His servants and answers their pleas when they plead Him.

---------


"O People! Whoever among you improves his conduct during this month will have a safe passage on the right path when many feet will slip away, and whoever among you decreases the burdens on his servant, will be rewarded by Almighty Allah decreasing his reckoning.

Whoever among you abstains from harming others will be spared the Wrath of Almighty Allah when he meets Him. Whoever among you affords generosity to an orphan will be rewarded by Almighty Allah being generous to him on the day of judgment.

Whoever among you improves his ties with his kin will be rewarded by Almighty Allah including him in His mercy, and whoever among you severs his ties with his kin, Almighty Allah will withhold His mercy from him when he meets Him.

https://www.islamicity.org/6084/prophets-sermon-on-the-month-of-ram...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 3, 2017 at 4:01pm

After #GM's #India exit, #Volkswagen, #Ford and #Skoda to abandon #Indian #automobile market. http://ecoti.in/XP54SZ via @economictimes

Last month, after over two decades in India, Detroit giant General Motors (GM) called it quits. The company will stop selling cars in India and focus only on exports from its factory in Talegaon in Pune. GM will shut down its plant in Halol in Gujarat. It has been struggling in India, selling 25,823 cars in 2016-17, giving it a market share of under 1%. Its dealers and customers are still reeling under the shock. 

In a market that at last count had over 17 carmakers, and in which the top four control over 75%, a legitimate question to ask is: who next after GM? It’s also pertinent considering that all is not well at many of the bit players — in India as well as at the global headquarters. 

Look under the hood at Volkswagen India. It has been hit by a flight of senior honchos at the sales division. The head of sales, national head of corporate sales and south sales manager have reportedly quit. 


More exits are said to be in the offing. The world’s largest carmaker that sold over 10 million cars as a group in 2016 is struggling in India. Under the mother VW brand, the Indian outpost sold 50,042 cars in 2016-17, yielding 1.6% in market share. “India is indeed one of the toughest markets,” says Andreas Lauermann, managing director, Volkswagen India. But he has reason not to give up. “If you can crack it, you can practically access many more such markets around the world. We know that the I .. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58978980.cms?utm_so...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 3, 2017 at 4:20pm

#India #manufacturing growth slows to three-month low in May. #MakeInIndia #Modi https://www.vccircle.com/india-manufacturing-growth-slows-to-three-... … via @vccircle

Indian factory growth cooled in May as new orders expanded at a more modest pace, but manufacturers were able to raise prices slightly, according to a private survey.
The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by IHS Markit, fell to 51.6 in May from April’s 52.5, marking its fifth month above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.
Output expanded at the softest pace since February but remained moderate.
The new orders sub-index, which reflects both domestic and foreign demand, fell to 52.6 from 53.8 in April. Export orders contracted for the first time in four months, albeit marignally.

“The upturn in the Indian manufacturing sector took a step back in May, with softer demand causing slower expansions in output and the amount of new work received by firms,” said Pollyanna de Lima, economist at IHS Markit.
“Moreover, there was a renewed decline in new export orders.”
While companies were able to raise selling prices, the increase was modest, reinforcing views that inflation may remain below the Reserve Bank of India’s medium-term target of 4 percent, giving it room to ease monetary policy.
Indian inflation eased in April to 2.99 percent from 3.89 percent in March.
Also helping the inflation outlook, monsoon rains have arrived earlier than anticipated, with the meteorological department predicting normal downpours this year.
“With inflation under control and manufacturing growth below par, we may see the RBI changing neutral monetary policy stance to accommodative in coming months in order to support the economy,” de Lima said.
While the central bank is expected to leave rates unchanged at 6.25 percent in its June meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee will adopt a less hawkish tone in its statement, according to a Reuters poll of 60 economists.
Analysts think that a policy hold is still on the cards, despite a shock slowdown in economic growth reported on Wednesday.
The economy expanded 6.1 percent in the January-March period, far slower than expectations for 7.1 percent, with capital investment showing no sign of reviving.
However, consumer spending is likely to pick up before the government implements a multi-rate Goods and Services Tax from July 1, with some items expected to be taxed at 28 percent or higher.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 5, 2017 at 8:22pm

Average Pakistani income rose nearly 10 percent in two fiscal cycles

https://www.geo.tv/latest/142450-average-pakistani-income-rose-near...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s per capita income rose 6.4 percent to $1,629 in the current fiscal year of 2016/17 from $1,531 in the preceding fiscal year, an official document revealed on Thursday.

The per capita income grew 2.9 percent in 2015/16 over the preceding fiscal year. The ministry of finance will release the figure of per capita income along with the upcoming Economic Survey (2016-17) before the announcement of the budget for fiscal 2017-18. The survey is expected to be released on May 25, 2017 by the finance minister Ishaq Dar.

The document, available with The News, stated that the country’s economy is performing well on many accounts but “two key targets are showing stagnation or negative growth including investment and savings in terms of GDP ratios.” “Without promoting investment and savings, the growth trajectory will not remain long lasting.”

The economy grew at the rate of 5.28 percent in the current fiscal year against the projected rate of 5.7 percent. Though the government once again missed the growth target because of under performed industrial and services sectors, it is still the fastest pace of growth since 2006-07 when the GDP expanded by 6.8 percent. Size of Pakistan’s economy reached $304.4 billion in the current fiscal year

The per capita income has been calculated on the basis of projected population of 197.3 million for the current fiscal year of 2016-17 compared to the population size of 193.6 million in the previous year.

The document showed that the savings to GDP ratio has fallen to 13.1 percent of GDP in the fiscal 2016-17 against 14.3 percent of GDP during the previous year. However, the most worrisome aspect of the economy is a declining trend in private investment during the current financial year.

The document showed that investment to GDP ratio inched up in the outgoing fiscal year despite significant investment inflows from neighbouring China under the $57-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“At a time when the country is claiming for receiving billions of dollars in shape of CPEC but total investment in GDP term went up from 15.6 percent in 2015-16 to just 15.8 percent for the current fiscal year,” an official said. In absolute numbers, total investment stood at Rs 5,026 billion in 2016-17 against Rs 4,526.7 billion in the last fiscal year of 2015-16.

The country received $1.733 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during first 10 months of the current fiscal year of 2016/17, up 12.7 percent from a year earlier, as investment from Chinese companies continued to increase.

The State Bank of Pakistan said most of the new investments, in the July-April FY17, went into food processing, electronics and construction sectors. FDI from the Chinese companies rose 13 percent to $718.3 million in July-April FY17.

The government document showed that the fixed investment in GDP ratio increased to 14.2 percent during the ongoing fiscal year against 14 percent in the last fiscal year. The public investment in GDP terms also rose 4.3 percent in 2016-17 compared to 3.8 percent for the last financial year.

However, the private investment in GDP terms declined 9.9 percent in 2016-17 from 10.2 percent during the previous fiscal year. Similarly, the national savings in percentage of GDP has declined from 14.3 percent in 2015-16 to 13.1 percent in the ongoing financial year, registering negative growth. In absolute figures, the national savings stood at Rs 4,161 billion in 2016-17 against Rs 4,173 billion in fiscal 2015-16.

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