For the first time, Pakistan's economy ascends to achieve US $300 billion mark

Cash-strapped Pakistan's economy for the first time crossed the US $300-billion mark and achieved over 5% GDP growth.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on May 25 announced that Pakistan's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had grown 5.28% in fiscal year 2016-17, against the target of 5.7%. The finance minister shared the report of National Economy Survey 2016-17 ahead of federal budget which he would present before the parliament on May 26. "The 5.28 % growth is less than our target but still is huge improvement to the 3.5 % when the government took over in 2013, he said. "We had set a challenging target and I am satisfied with the growth," Dar said. "There has been a visible growth in the national economy. This is the first time in 10 years that we have crossed the 5% GDP growth mark," Dar said.

Ishaq Dar Finance Minister, Pakistan

For the first time, Pakistan's economy crossed the US $300-billion mark, the industrial sector grew 5.02%, agriculture 3.46% and services 5.98%. The growth rate for the next fiscal year has been set over 6%. Pakistan's growth is far better than the global growth. The government also met its budget deficit target of 3.8%, with the actual deficit registering at 3.7%. By 2030 Pakistan would be part of G20 group of nations. By 2050, Pakistan would surpass Canada, Italy and South Korea."

He also said that by 2019 Pakistan would not need to go the IMF for loans. He said there was 22% growth in per capita income which has increased from US $1,333 in 2016 to US $1,629. Dar said the FDI inflow would also double to US $ 2.58 billion by the end of current fiscal year on June 30. Foreign reserves have increased to US $21 billion from paltry US $6 billion in 2013. "When we took over, there was danger of default. And now we are being branded as one of the leading economy," he said. The remittances are expected to reach US $19.5 billion for 2017. Talking about growth of utilities, he said there was 3.4 % increase recorded in electricity, gas supply in the existing fiscal year.

He said so far the country has lost US $123.13 billion due to war on terror. He also said that 25,000 security personnel were killed and as many were injured since the start of crackdown against terrorists post 9/11. Talking about debt, he said public debt was at 53.1% of GDP in 2008, which went up to 60.2% of GDP and it was now at 59.3%. The import of heavy machinery surged 70%, textile sector showed a 23% increase while the construction increased by 67% and agriculture 37%.

"As far as (lower-than-expected) exports are concerned, as oil prices declined so did the prices of commodities (which Pakistan exports)," Dar said. "Our future is in diversified exports and we are focusing on IT exports for this purpose. We have announced an IT park with Korea in Islamabad and will replicate the model in Karachi and Lahore," he said.