"“The finance minister stressed upon the Ministry of Commerce to conduct sensitivity analysis and build scenarios for effective forecasting both in imports as well as exports for each month of the year,” according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported over the weekend that imports last month hit a record high of $6.5 billion, which were higher by 95% or $3.14 billion. As a result, the year-on-year trade deficit widened 144% to $4.2 billion in August.
The increasing imports have a direct bearing on the current account deficit due to almost stagnant exports of $2-2.2 billion a month.
Sources said that the SBP governor on Monday informed the meeting that imports were expected to remain higher than the central bank’s earlier projections.
Data shared with the meeting suggested that all imports were not necessarily being made for a productive economic purpose, which was contrary to the impression given to the prime minister, said the sources.
Data shared with the meeting suggested that all imports were not necessarily being made for a productive economic purpose, which was contrary to the impression given to the prime minister, said the sources.
The finance minister questioned the commerce ministry officials that how could their projections go off the mark by a huge margin of $1 billion within two weeks, at least two participants of the meeting told The Express Tribune.
The commerce ministry was of the view that it made the forecast on the basis of last three years average - an explanation that the minister did not accept, they added.
Over 9,200 vehicles were imported during the first two months of FY22, which were almost three times more than the comparative period, the meeting was informed.
Out of these, the new vehicles were nearly 3,000 in the current fiscal year compared with just 216 vehicles in the same period of last fiscal year, said the sources.
Officials tried to explain that vehicle imports surged because of increase in economic activities but the finance minister did not buy this argument, said the sources.
Same was the situation with imports of mobile phones and luxury items, said the sources.
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"So far the SBP had used exchange rate anchor to make imports expensive but this intervention had failed to deliver the desired results. So monetary tightening is on cards if imports continue to increase rapidly in the coming months, they added."
"Officials said the commerce ministry has been tasked to come up with projections on trade balance after which the level of the monetary and fiscal tightening would be decided. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may hike policy rate in the next meeting, while the finance ministry considers imposition of regulatory duty on non-essential luxury items."
To PTI youths
"Top official confirmed to The News in background discussions after holding a high-level meeting on Monday that red flags were raised when the meeting was informed the external account was heading towards the same situation it had back in 2017-18." Your Imran Khan FM is saying.
www.thenews.com.pk
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported over the weekend that imports last month hit a record high of $6.5 billion, which were higher by 95% or $3.14 billion. As a result, the year-on-year trade deficit widened 144% to $4.2 billion in August.
The increasing imports have a direct bearing on the current account deficit due to almost stagnant exports of $2-2.2 billion a month.
Sources said that the SBP governor on Monday informed the meeting that imports were expected to remain higher than the central bank’s earlier projections.
Data shared with the meeting suggested that all imports were not necessarily being made for a productive economic purpose, which was contrary to the impression given to the prime minister, said the sources.
Data shared with the meeting suggested that all imports were not necessarily being made for a productive economic purpose, which was contrary to the impression given to the prime minister, said the sources.
The finance minister questioned the commerce ministry officials that how could their projections go off the mark by a huge margin of $1 billion within two weeks, at least two participants of the meeting told The Express Tribune.
The commerce ministry was of the view that it made the forecast on the basis of last three years average - an explanation that the minister did not accept, they added.
Over 9,200 vehicles were imported during the first two months of FY22, which were almost three times more than the comparative period, the meeting was informed.
Out of these, the new vehicles were nearly 3,000 in the current fiscal year compared with just 216 vehicles in the same period of last fiscal year, said the sources.
Officials tried to explain that vehicle imports surged because of increase in economic activities but the finance minister did not buy this argument, said the sources.
Same was the situation with imports of mobile phones and luxury items, said the sources.
Tarin grills officials as imports surge | The Express Tribune
Questions commerce ministry how its projections went off the mark by huge margin
tribune.com.pk
Same Story
"So far the SBP had used exchange rate anchor to make imports expensive but this intervention had failed to deliver the desired results. So monetary tightening is on cards if imports continue to increase rapidly in the coming months, they added."
"Officials said the commerce ministry has been tasked to come up with projections on trade balance after which the level of the monetary and fiscal tightening would be decided. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may hike policy rate in the next meeting, while the finance ministry considers imposition of regulatory duty on non-essential luxury items."
To PTI youths
"Top official confirmed to The News in background discussions after holding a high-level meeting on Monday that red flags were raised when the meeting was informed the external account was heading towards the same situation it had back in 2017-18." Your Imran Khan FM is saying.
Stringent steps planned to avert looming BoP crisis
ISLAMABAD: The government plans to adopt more vigorous fiscal and monetary measures and also higher trade barriers on luxury imports to help tackle a looming balance of payment crisis after the...
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