Daily Times

The inflow of workers’ remittances in to the country witnessed 19 percent increase in January 2021, as compared to same month of the previous year.

The remittances remained above $2 billion for 8th straight month as during the corresponding month, the inflow was recorded at $2.3 billion as compared to the inflow of $1.907 billion in January 2020.

On average, the remittances surged by 24 percent during July-January (2020-21) from $13.28 billion in Jul-Jan (2019-20) to $16.476 billion in same period of the current fiscal year, according to data released by State Bank of Pakistan on Monday. The country wise detail shows that the highest inflows came from Saudi Arabia as Pakistan received $553 million during the month as compared to $531.6 million in January 2020 and $624 million in December 2020.

From UAE, the country received $492.5 million in January 2021 against the inflows worth of $463.5 million in same month of last year. The overseas Pakistanis living in USA dispatched $203.2 million as compared to $148.8 million in January last year, whereas from UK, the workers’ remittances were recorded at $303 million against the $201 million.

Similarly, the cash inflow from European Union countries jumped from $142 million in January 2020 to $228.8 million in January 2021.

From other GCC countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, the inflows also increased to $271.2 million as compared to $260 million in January 2020.

From Australia the workers’ remittances inflow jumped by about around 89 percent as it increased from $27.4 million to $51.9 million in the corresponding month of current year.

Likewise workers’ remittances in the corresponding month from Malaysia, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan stood at $14.9 million, $8.5 million, $4.3 million, $47.6 million, and $6.2 million, respectively.

POL production:

The overall production of petroleum commodities has witnessed an increase of 5.01 percent during the first half of financial year 2020-21 as compared to corresponding period of last year.

The Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) products that showed growth including kerosene oil production, which increased by 3.83 percent during the period under review, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

Similarly, the production of Motor Spirits, High Speed Diesel, Furnace Oil, Jute Batching Oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) witnessing increase of 18.54 percent, 9.74 percent, 6.52 percent, 4.17 percent and 6.39 percent respectively.

However, the production of Jet Fuel Oil has decreased by 37.69 percent, Diesel oil 57.21 percent, Lubricating oil 5.05, Solvent Naptha 21.15 percent and petroleum product NOS 14.18 during the period under review.

On year-on-year basis, the production of POL commodities has witnessed an increase of 23.91 percent during December 2020 as compared to the output of December 2019.

During the month under review, the production of kerosene oil increased by 4.46 percent, motor spirits by 30.17 percent, high speed diesel by 23.56 percent, furnace oil by 40.09 percent, jute batching oil by 62.76, solvent naptha by 39.28 percent and LPG by 8.17 percent.

On the other hand, the production of jet fuel oil dipped by 17.92 percent, diesel oil by 11.99 percent, jute batching oil by 5.15 percent and petroleum products NOS by 11.63 percent.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall output of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) in the country during the first half of financial year 2020-21 witnessed growth of 8.16 percent as compared to the output of the corresponding period of last year.

LSMI Quantum Index Number (QIM) was recorded at 143.30 points during July-December (2020-21) against 132.49 points during July-December (2019-20), showing growth of 8.16 percent, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The highest increase of 6.23 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.63 percent decline in the products monitored by the Provincial Board of Statistics (BOS) and an increase of 0.29 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC).