ISLAMABAD: Despite several challenges, the prudent strategy adopted by the incumbent government has helped achieve macroeconomic stability with the economy on a growth trajectory according to many economic indicators. Official sources said that the country’s foreign reserves, one of the main economic indicators, stood at US$ 23.183 billion as of January 09, 2017. Production in the large scale manufacturing sector increased by 3.24 per cent in the July-November period; increasing from 121.94 points last year to 125.90 points during the first five months of the current fiscal year. Worker remittances received during the recent July-December period amounted to US$ 9,459 million. The performance of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) remained around seven per cent for the six month period ending on December 2016. “This reflects catching up of the shortfall experienced in the initial months, largely on account of giving relief to consumers on petroleum prices together with sales tax refunds of Rs 45 billions,” sources added. On the expenditure side, the performance was on track as the expenditure was made in a prudent manner in accordance with budget, and keeping revenue growth in mind, they added. The sources said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth also appeared to be on an upward trajectory. Inflation also remained in single digits. Headline inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased by 3.7 per cent in December 2016 compared to 3.8 per cent in the previous month and 3.2 per cent in December of last year. On average, during the recent July December period, inflation was recorded at 3.88 per cent as compared to 2.08 per cent in the corresponding period last year. On a monthly basis, CPI and food inflation remained at their lowest at around 0.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent since February 2015. Inflation recorded a continuous six-week decline, which brought food inflation to three per cent in December 2016 compared to 3.3 per cent in the previous month while non-food inflation remained at the same level as the previous month, at 4.2 per cent, whereas core inflation increased by 5.2 per cent compared to 5.3 per cent in previous months. The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI), in December 2016, were recorded at 0.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively, compared to 0.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent in the previous month. The sources added that worker remittances received during the July-December period amounted to US$ 9,459 million. The government expects to achieve remittance target of $20 billion during the current year, they said. Meanwhile, there has been a decline in merchandise trade as the deficit in the first five months of the current fiscal year rose nearly 20 per cent annually, to $11.775 billion, compared to the corresponding period last year.