ISLAMABAD: While revealing the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024–25, Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that during the outgoing fiscal year the country witnessed a 2.7% GDP growth coupled with 4.6% inflation.
The survey holds significance ahead of the annual federal budget — set to be tabled tomorrow (Tuesday) offering detailed insights into the country’s socio-economic performance in the outgoing fiscal year with statistics related to GDP growth, tax revenue, position of various industries and other important fiscal and economic indicators.
These include inflation, trade and balance of payments, public debt, population growth, employment levels, and climate change impacts. The consolidated view of these indicators, the survey aims to inform public debate and policy planning in the lead-up to the new fiscal year.
Divulging into the key statistics, the finance czar highlighted the major reduction in the policy rate from 22% to the current 11% and remarked that there were record recoveries in the power sector courtesy of reforms.
Noting that there was a 7% surge in Pakistan’s exports, Aurangzeb shed light on the country’s growing Information Technology (IT) potential and said that freelancers earned as much as $400 during the outgoing fiscal year, whereas the IT exports amounted to $3.1 billion.
With an 11.7% increase in imports, the current account deficit, he added, reflected a surplus of $1.9 billion (July to April) along with a 26% rise in revenue collection.
On the all-important issue of remittances — which are a key source of much-valued foreign exchange — the federal minister said that they witnessed an increase of around $10 billion in two years.
In relation to the government’s ongoing efforts to expand the tax net, the finance minister said that the number of individual tax filers doubled in the outgoing fiscal year.
However, lamenting the setbacks in the agricultural sector, Aurangzeb revealed that the country’s key crops took a notable hit and witnessed a negative growth of 13.49% where cotton yield suffered the most with 30% less production. Wheat yield dropped by 8.9% whereas sugarcane production reduced by 3.9%.
Other crops which took a hit include maize (-15.4%), and rice (-1.4%). Contrastingly, potato and onion crop yield increased by 11.5% and 15.9%, respectively.
Commenting on the country’s economic recovery, the finance czar said that Islamabad has recovered in terms of GDP growth compared to global growth. Noting that global inflation was at 6.8% in the last two years and currently stood at 0.3%, he said that the country’s forex reserves witnessed a remarkable increase in the current fiscal year.
“We now have to move towards GDP stabilisation,” he said adding: “We are currently moving in a better direction”.
Commending the caretaker government for keeping the country on track with regards to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, the finance minister, accentuated that reforms were necessary to change the “DNA” of Pakistan’s economy.
“The government has made reforms to improve the performance of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR),” he remarked, while stressing that every economic transformation required two to three years to manifest.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.