Economic Trends and Targets Table 1.8: Projection of the Balance of Payments of Pakistan, 2020-21 to 2024-25 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 Current Account-3.0-1.8-6.5-7.5-8.0 Exports of Goods 22.5 25.6 26.8 28.9 31.2 Imports of Goods 42.4 53.8 60.2 63.8 67.6 Balance of Trade-19.9-28.2-33.4-34.9-36.4 Remittances 23.1 29.4 30.9 32.4 34.4 Others*-6.2-6.0-4.0-5.0-6.0 Financial Account 7.7 8.2 7.5 8.5 9.5 Others 0.6-0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 Balance of Payments 5.3 5.6 1.5 1.5 2.0 Reserves 12.1 17.3 18.8 20.3 22.3 Reserve Cover 3.4 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.4 ( Months of Imports) Source: Estimated ($ billion) 2024-25 -9.5 33.7 71.6 -37.9 35.0 -6.6 11.5 0.5 2.5 24.8 3.6 The Charter of the Economy will focus on the realization of the projections in Tables 1.6 to 1.8. 1.3. Focusing on Inflation One Of the major negative economic factors which is impacting heavily on the lives of the people is the high prevailing rate of inflation. The rate of inflation in the overall consumer Price Index(CPI) was close to 10 percent in April 2020-21. Pakistan has experienced varying rates of inflation in different periods over the last fifteen years. Inflation was high during the period, 2007-08 to 2011-12, when it was double digit each year and averaged an annual rate of almost 13 percent. Thereafter, we have seen a period of relative price stability up to 2018-19 with the rate of inflation down to only 5.5 percent. However, double-digit inflation returned in 2019-20 and the first ten months of 2020-21 have witnessed an average monthly inflation rate of over 9 percent. There is need to determine the contribution of different factors to inflation in Pakistan. It is particularly important of focus on the level of basic food prices because they have a disproportionately bigger impact on the lower income groups. There are both basic demand and supply-side factors which contribute to inflation. This includes generally recognized factors like the rate of monetary expansion and the level of availability of basic goods and services. However, not enough emphasis has been placed on the impact of imported inflation on domestic prices. 13