South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan's benchmark KSE-100 index hit an all-time high after the announcement of the $7 billion IMF bailout deal today. Economic indicators such as inflation, exports and remittances are also showing significant improvement as well. Speaking to reporters after the IMF deal,  the Fund Managing Director  Kristalina Georgieva acknowledged progress made by Pakistan. She said  "The economy is on the sound path. Growth is up and inflation is down". The  KSE-100 index rose in early trade to a record high of 82,905.73 points, before giving up those gains later in the day to close 0.7% down at 81,657. It still represents an annual gain of nearly 100%.  Pakistani Stock Market Outperforms Asian Peers. Source: Bloomberg Pakistan rupee has remained essentially stable at around Rs. 277 to a US dollar over the last year. Inflation has come down from 37% last year to less than 10% this year.  Exports have climbed 10.54% ($2.921 billion) to $30.645 billion during the fisc...

Pakistani diaspora bucked the 2016 global decline in remittances with a modest 2.8% increase over 2015, according to a recently released World Bank report . An estimated $19.8 billion remitted to Pakistan amounted to 6.9% of the country's GDP. This is a welcome relief coming on the heels of the State Bank of Pakistan report indicating the country's current account deficit widened to $6.13 billion or 2.6% of GDP in the first 9 months of fiscal 2017. 2016 Remittances to South Asia. Source: World Bank Global Decline: Meanwhile, global remittance flows to developing countries registered a decline for two successive years, said the report.  Remittances declined by an estimated 2.4 percent, to $429 billion, in 2016, after a decline of 1 percent in 2015. India, the largest remittance-receiving country worldwide, led the fall with a decrease of 8.9 percent in remittance inflows. South Asia Region: Remittances to India declined by 8.9 percent in 2016, to $62.7 billion, ra...