ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Monday launched the Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-2014 revealing that the country’s economic growth stood at 4.1 percent, which is six years high.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Dar said that GDP growth rate target was missed even though it improved by 4.1 percent, higher than the 3.7 percent growth posted last year.
The government had set a target of 4.4 percent economic growth for fiscal year 2013-2014.
He said that for the first time after six years, Pakistan has entered the territory of 4 percent GDP growth. He added that Pakistan’s economic growth would continue to go up by one percent annually for the next three years.
The finance minister said that government exceeded its target of industrial growth which was recorded at 5.84 percent compared to 3.7 percent achieved last year.
The two other major sectors, agriculture and services, missed their targets.
He said that agriculture growth rate was recorded at 2.12 percent, far below its target of 3.8pc and even lower than the growth rate of 2.9pc posted in FY2012-13.
He said that there was improved production of major crops, but the target was missed due to cotton’s negative growth. The performance of other crops, as per the economic survey, was below par as it recorded negative growth of 3.5 per cent, a significant deceleration from the impressive 6.1 percent recorded last year.
The main contribution came from the manufacturing sector, which posted a growth rate of 5.5pc against a target of 4.5 percent.
The services sector grew by 4.29 percent against a target of 4.5 percent. The current performance was not even as good as the FY2012-13 figure of 4.86 percent.
The government has also missed its target for the investment-to-GDP ratio.
Against a target of 15.1 percent, the ratio actually stood at 14 per cent this year, below even the 14.6 percent ratio achieved in FY2012-13. Both domestic and foreign direct investment contributed to this downward movement.
Dar said that inflation stood at 8.6 per cent compared to 7.7 posted last year.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves has jumped to USD13.63 billion. He said that foreign investment was recorded at $3 billion.
He further revealed that per capital income for the outgoing fiscal year has been estimated at $1386.
GDP growth hits six years high, Dar unveils economic survey 2013/2014
