KARACHI: The Pakistan has achieved GDP growth by 4.45 per cent in 2015-16 against its target of 5-6 per cent despite slow exports and bad cotton crops in last fiscal year.
The country’s show deficit in balance of payments (BoP) which shrunk by 7.2 per cent to (negative) $2.525 billion in 2015-16 compared to (negative) $2.709 billion in the same period of the previous year.
The main reason behind the deficit in balance of payments was the declining country’s exports, which slide by 12.11 per cent to $20.802 billion last year compared to $23.667 in the same period 2014-15. Similarly, the imports of the country only fell by 2.32 per cent to $44.765 billion against $45.826 imports in same previous year.
According to the SBP, the country total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is stood at $283.678 billion in 2015-16 compared to $271.054 billion in previous year. The GDP of the country increased by 4.45 per cent in last fiscal year, SBP data revealed.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international donor agencies had already forecasted Pakistan’s GDP at around 4.0-4.5 percent in the current fiscal year owing to the lower oil prices in the international market.
Services sector’s export also declined by 7.6 per cent to $5.460 billion against its import of $7.874 billion. The country’s businesses have paid an extra amount of$2.414 billion against the services received from abroad.
The country received an amount of Rs 19.915 billion in the head of remittances from different countries in last fiscal year 2015-16, up by 6.38 per cent compared with $18.720 billion received in the same period last year.
The analyst of a brokerage house said “IMF’s loans, country’s remittances and few cash crops have supported Pakistan’s economy last year,” otherwise there is neither new industry set up nor any investment received from abroad during last few months. He said the foreign investors of Pakistani bourses were withdrawing their investment because of uncertainty in the local markets.
A surplus in current account means saving exceeding investment or a low current account deficit means saving is marginally less than investment, the analyst said. A surplus or low deficit may not always be a sign of economic strength, he added.
The Direct Investment of the country increased by 38.8 per cent to $1.281 billion mainly supported by Oil & Gas Explorations, Power, Communication and Beverage industry with a total contribution of $1.1 billion in full year (July-June) 2015-16.
In the year 2015-16 The Chinese companies invested an amount of $593.9 million. The country’s total investment has declined by 65.6 per cent to $952.4 million during last fiscal year.
The biggest investment has been received of $290.4 million in Coal Power, $200 million in Thermal, $137.5 million in Hydel Power sector. The country has also received $24 million of the privatization proceeds in Thermal power, the SBP said.
Dollar after appreciation of almost 6-7 percent in the open current market remained stable in last six months of 2015-16 and stood at 105.30 only because of intervention from the central bank. The greenback come down by Rs 2 in the interbank market in first quarter of 2015-16 and since that it is stable in interbank market.