Pakistan GDP to grow at 6.5 percent: Aziz:
[World News]: Islamabad, Nov 11 : Pakistan’s GDP will grow 6.5 percent in the current fiscal but inflation is at an alarming 9.2 percent, according to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Agriculture will grow by four percent and large-scale manufacturing (LSM) by 12 percent, Daily Times Thursday quoted Aziz as saying at an Iftar dinner Wednesday.
“The budget deficit is projected to be 3.2 percent of GDP, and exports and imports are targeted to grow by 9.1 percent and 20.7 percent respectively,” he said.He attributed the high inflation rate to “demand side pressure on the one hand and supply side shocks (rising food and fuel prices) on the other”. Overall, he maintained, Pakistan was witnessing extraordinary buoyancy in its economy - a higher-than-targeted 6.4 percent growth in real GDP supported by stellar LSM growth and a reduction of 2.4 percent (of GDP) in the fiscal deficit.
On the agriculture side, the prime minister said a bumper cotton crop was expected as a preliminary estimate suggested output of 12.1 million bales, the highest since 1991-92. He said the private sector was taking full advantage of the “conducive” macro-economic environment. “The private sector has so far borrowed Rs.83 billion compared to Rs.54 billion for the same period last year,” he said. Remittances had been a major source of foreign exchange earnings, with $983 million received in the first quarter.
The prime minister said foreign direct investment continued to rise as well. “During the first quarter of this year, we have received $181 million as against $117 million last year,” he said. --Indo-Asian News Service