Islamabad: The fiscal deficit during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year has been contained at the same level of 1.4 percent of GDP as it was recorded in the comparable period last year, finance ministry said in a report.

According to the monthly Economic Update and Outlook for January 2023, the primary balance improved during July-November (FY2023) and posted a surplus of Rs 511 billion (0.6 percent of GDP) against the deficit of Rs 36 billion (-0.1 percent of GDP) last year.

“The first five months of CFY have ended with some developments; containing fiscal deficit and surplus in primary balance due to effective fiscal management,” it says.

According to the report, the private sector credit observed developments in the month of December 2022 as it increased by Rs 458 billion compared Rs 413.6 billion in December 2021, emanated more credit demand both from working capital and fixed investment.

During 1st July to December 30, FY2023 money supply (M2) showed growth of 2.0 percent (Rs. 562.8 billion) compared to growth of 4.3 percent (Rs. 1047.3 billion) in last year.

The current account deficit shrank to $ 400 million in December 2022 as against $ 1857 million in the same period last year, largely reflecting an improvement in the trade balance.

Current Account posted a deficit of $ 3.7 billion for Jul-Dec FY2023 as against a deficit of $ 9.1 billion last year, mainly due to a contraction in imports.

The report termed fiscal consolidation as the key to saving official reserves and exchange rate stability of the country. It says, the fiscal consolidation may temporarily be costly in terms of growth prospects in the short term. However, long-run prosperity and growth could only be achieved by augmenting the country’s long-term equilibrium growth path by expanding production capacities and productivity.

The report says, Pakistan was currently confronted with the challenges like high inflation, low growth, and low levels of official foreign exchange reserves.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has renewed the call for global action in the wake of increase in climate change induced natural disasters. 

He made the call in a message expressing condolences to the government and people of Turkiye for the loss of precious lives in an earthquake on Monday. 

Noting that climate change induced disasters are not limited to a single country or region, the Prime Minister termed these a clarion call to the international community to act for survival of mankind and planet earth.        

The Prime Minister said Pakistan stands in solidarity with its Turkish brethren in this hour of grief.  

Recalling Turkiye's support to Pakistan in every hour of difficulty, Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan will help Turkiye in every possible way.           

He expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for eternal peace of the dead and speedy recovery of the injured.

Meanwhile, in a tweet in this regard, the Prime Minister especially send his profound condolences and sympathies to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also expressed heartfelt condolences and most sincere sympathies to the government and the people of Syria, who have suffered major human and material losses due to the devastating earthquake early this morning.

The Prime Minister said we stand in solidarity with the government and people of Syria and will provide all possible support to them.

He said earthquake devastation is a message to the world community to get united to tackle the challenge of climate change.

Islamabad: Local mobile phone production units established in the country have manufactured about 7.24 million smartphones and created 26,000 jobs from January to September 2022.

According to an annual report of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), its wider impact on the economy has manifested in the shape of a newly established mobile ecosystem, the emergence of the local handset manufacturing industry, job creation, investments by global mobile manufacturers, increased government revenues, and 100% registration of handsets across all cellular networks of Pakistan.

Commercial imports of 1.24 million have been taken over by local manufacturing, which stands at 16.70 million.

PTA issued the Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations 2021, which enable companies to obtain MDM authorization for 10 years.

As many as 30 authorizations have been issued so far. The list includes international brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Nokia, Oppo, Vivo, Techno, and Infinix, and local brands like VGO Tel and E-Tachi, among others.

Today, 30 local plants in Pakistan are manufacturing features and smartphones, not just for local market consumption but export purposes also.

For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the import volume of ‘Completely Built Up’ (CBU) phones in 2021 registered a decline as most of the local demand was catered to locally manufactured products.