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June 11, 2008
Pakistan's Economic Scenario Grim: Survey
Islamabad
Pakistan has missed all its macroeconomic targets during the
outgoing fiscal due to domestic and external shocks, the economic
survey for the year says.
GDP growth fell to 5.8 percent against the target of 7.2 percent,
while fiscal deficit surged to 7 percent due to higher petroleum and
food prices against the target of 4 percent, the survey stated.
This apart, the current account deficit touching 6.9 percent of the
GDP and ballooning inflation at 10.3 percent against the target of
6.5 percent posed "serious challenges" to the country's economic
managers, the survey, released Tuesday, said.
"The public debt is rising on account of twin deficits - fiscal and
current account - and likely to rise to 56 percent of the GDP for
2007-08 against 53 percent for the previous year and witnessing
reversal in the trend by moving from bad to worst," The News noted
Wednesday.
"Fiscal 2007-08 witnessed violation of various aspects of the Fiscal
Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005," the economic survey
pointed out.
Food inflation is estimated at 15 percent for the outgoing fiscal,
"clearly indicating that the higher prices of food were fleecing the
poor voiceless consumers", it added.
Pakistan's external debt rose to $45.9 billion in the first nine
months of the current fiscal against $40 billion last year,
registering an increase of $5.4 billion. Foreign exchange reserves
dwindled to $12.3 billion by the end of April 2008, significantly
lower than the June 2007 level of $15.6 billion.
The Pakistani rupee also depreciated against the US dollar by 6.4
percent during the first 10 months of the current fiscal compared to
the previous financial year, the survey said.
On the positive side, per capita income rose to $1,085, while the
poverty level had come down from 23.9 percent in 2004-05 to 22.3
percent by 2005-06, the survey said.
In spite of extreme political instability and heightened security
concerns, Pakistan attracted $3.5 billion foreign direct investment
in the first 10 months of the fiscal - some $700 million less than
last year, the survey said.
IANS
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June 11, 2008
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