Level of national, domestic savings remains unchanged during outgoing fiscal year

ISLAMABAD, Apr 26 (APP):The level of both national and domestic savings in terms of percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) remained almost similar to the level of last year.
According to the Economic Survey 2017-18 released by Advisor to the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail here Thursday, increase in saving-investment gap in turn resulted in higher current-account deficit.
During the fiscal year 2018, current account deficit remained higher than FY 2017 which resulted in increased borrowing from the external sources.
During FY 2018, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), considered as fixed investment, stood at Rs 5,099.1 billion compared to Rs 4,632.8 billion last year posting a growth of 10.1 percent.
Private sector Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) posted a growth 5.2 percent as it increased to Rs 3,371.2 billion compared to 3,205.5 billion last year while the public sector GFCF increased to Rs 373.3 billion compared to 339.5 billion last year showing a growth of 9.9 percent.
Estimates of GFCF in the General Government sector were based on budgetary data of federal, provincial and districts governments. Estimates for the year FY 2018 were placed at Rs 1,354.6 billion against Rs 1,087.7 billion in last year, which are higher by 24.5 percent.
The expenditure on GFCF incurred by federal, provincial and district governments has increased by 23.9 percent, 22.1 percent and 45.7 percent, respectively. At current prices, in public sector, major positive contribution in GFCF remained in agriculture (257 percent) which increased from Rs 122 million to Rs 435 million followed by electricity & gas (70.9 percent) which increased from Rs 138.5 to 236.7 billion.
While others in transport & communication (71.2 percent), Pakistan National Shipping Corporation increased from Rs 0.6 billion to Rs 5.5 billion, Port Qasim Authority increased from Rs 0.5 billion to Rs 9.2 billion, and PARCO increased from Rs 0.07 billon to Rs 12.8 billion.
Some industries in public sector witnessed negative growth, including mining & quarrying (57.1 percent), which decreased from Rs 64.2 billion to Rs 27.6 billion due to OGDC (Plant & Machinery declined from Rs 48.4 billion to 12.7 billion), and LSM (39.1 percent) due to National Refinery Limited (Rs 28.1 billion vs 0.37 billion).
Railways in transport & communication declined by 72.9 percent (Rs 39.4 billion to Rs 10.7 billion) and finance & insurance decline by 35.1 percent due to EOBI (Rs 9.8 billion to 4.9 billion).
In private sector, at current prices, the estimates of GFCF in agriculture sector stood at Rs 1000.2 billion during FY 2018 against Rs 928.9 billion last year showing a growth of 7.7 percent mainly due to increase in domestic agriculture machinery (from Rs 39.7 billion to Rs 57.0 billion) and value of stock in the livestock (from Rs 730.5 billion to 776.0 billion).
Estimates of GFCF in mining and quarrying sector during FY 2018 were estimated at Rs 50.1 billion against
Rs 49.8 billion last year registering a nominal growth of 0.6 percent due to less expenditure in exploration costs.
Estimate of private sector GFCFin wholesale & retail trade sub-sector had grown by 10.4 percent during 2017-18. The private sector GFCF in Transport & Communication sector had increased by 0.4 percent in FY 2018 to Rs 472.1 billion from Rs 470.0 billion last year. Mobile phone companies had reported provisional GFCF conservatively.
Moreover, remaining sub-sectors such as housing services and other private services had registered GFCF growth of 8.3 percent and 10.9 percent during 2017-18 respectively.