Looking back at some key events of 2020

The Express Tribune highlights developments of financial world

January

Pak-China FTA-II came into effect

The second phase of the free trade agreement came into force, which would allow Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313 new products to the Chinese market with zero duties.

February

Pakistani group entered EV segment

Crown Group organised market testing and sales display of its three and four-wheel electric vehicles and announced plans to manufacture cars at its newly built 26-acre facility at Port Qasim. The plant had initial production capacity of 120,000 units per annum.

March

Pakistan’s GSP Plus status kept in place

The European Union decided to extend the GSP Plus facility for Pakistan for another two years. The status granted Pakistan duty-free access to EU markets in 91% tariff lines.

PSX recorded largest drop in history

The KSE-100 index of Pakistan’s bourse nosedived 2,376 points as investors dumped stocks on fears of negative impact of Covid-19 and lockdown on Pakistan’s economy.

April

Oil prices turned negative for first time

US crude oil futures collapsed below $0 for the first time in history amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil. Demand for oil disappeared as billions of people across the globe chose to stay at home to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Zero car sales

Pakistan’s auto industry endured the worst month for car sales in April and recorded zero sales.

May

Pakistan retained MSCI EM status

Pakistan successfully kept its May 2017 upgraded status in the global MSCI Emerging Market (EM) Index and staved off the threat of being downgraded to the Frontier Index in a semi-annual review.

Mobile phone policy approved

Federal government approved Pakistan’s first mobile phone manufacturing policy aimed at encouraging local production to counter the security threat emanating from handsets being manufactured in India.

August

ML-1 rail project got final approval

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the Mainline-1 railway project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) worth $6.8 billion, paving the way for loan negotiations with Beijing, which would finance 90% of the cost.

Govt, IPPs reached accord to cut energy cost

Pakistan signed a new agreement with independent power producers (IPPs) to reduce cost of electricity generation and slash circular debt in the power sector

September

Pakistan won stay in Reko Diq case

World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) granted a stay on enforcement of a massive penalty of $6 billion imposed on Pakistan for its decision to deny a mining lease for the Reko Diq project to Australia’s Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).

October

Pakistan remained on FATF grey list

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gave yet another lifeline to Pakistan and decided to keep the country in its grey list for four more months while acknowledging the political commitment to ending deficiencies in the country’s anti-terror financing regime. The next review would take place in Feb 2021.

November

ADB issued first Pak rupee-based bonds

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised Rs1.83 billion ($11.4 million) through the first issue of rupee-based Karakoram bonds. Karakoram bond is an offshore bond denominated in Pakistani rupee and settled in US dollar, listed on a major stock exchange and settled through an international central securities depositary.

Country secured around $1b debt relief

Pakistan secured roughly $980 million worth of debt freeze deals with members of the G-20 club of richest countries.

December

Exporters challenged India’s GI claim on Basmati

Pakistan filed its opposition to India’s claim of geographical indication (GI) tag for Basmati rice in the European Union. India sought protection for its Basmati rice as a GI product in an attempt to hinder Pakistan’s growing exports and expansion of local Basmati segment.

Govt discontinued Rs25,000 prize bonds

Federal government discontinued bearer prize bonds of Rs25,000 denomination and gave a six-month deadline to investors to en cash or convert their savings of Rs164 billion aimed at addressing concerns of the Financial Action Task Force.

Virgin Atlantic kicked off flights to Pakistan

British airline Virgin Atlantic commenced its operations in Pakistan, becoming the latest international airline to start serving passengers in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2020.

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