Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presenting the Economic Survey. SCREENGRAB: EXPRESS
He promised that the government will try to increase the GDP by 1% every year aiming to take it to 7% in 2017. He also said that around Rs42 billion will be saved every year in loan repayment.
The survey says that imports in ten months of this financial year reached $12.9 billion against $11.6 billion last year, indicating an increase of 1.2%, reported Radio Pakistan.
6:29pm
Figures (for 10-months):
Imports: $37.1 billion (as compared to $36.7 billion last year)
Increase in imports: 1.2%
Current account deficit: $2.162 billion (as compared to $1.574 billion last year)
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6:20pm
#PMLN economic diplomacy delivers
— Engr. Khurram Dastgir-Khan (@kdastgirkhan) June 2, 2014
GSP+ gives $572.21m boost to Pak exports to European Union
Jan-Apr 2014 $2481.83m
Jan-April 2013 $1909.62m
Ishaq Dar talked about increase in reserves? They should have told about the source as well. Is it IMF or WB or both?
— EkSecondPls! (@Bushra_badar) June 2, 2014
Ishaq Dar shd talk about real issues like price of daal & aloo. Majority of Pakistanis can't afford to even think beyond that. #Budget2014
— عایشہ (@AmzuD) June 2, 2014
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6:17pm
Some figures presented by Dar:
Water supply: 98 million acre feet (as compared to 89.6 million acre feet)
Consumer Price Index: 8.69% (as compared to 7.75% last year; this is according to 10-month figures)
Core inflation: 8.24% (as compared to 9.91% last year; this is according to 10-month figures)
Exports: $21 billion (as compared to $20.1 billion last year; this is according to 10-month figures)
Increase in exports: 4.24%
Growth in export of textile group: 7% (10-month figure)
Growth in export of raw cotton: 45% (10-month figure)
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6:02pm
Commenting on missed targets, the finance minister says his government had set stretched targets in the first place to make sure all stakeholders give their 100% to improve the economy.
"Whatever we have achieved in the outgoing year will be counted as achievements," says Dar.
Figures:
Growth in important crops: 3.74% (as compared to 1.19% last year)
Wheat: 25.29 million tonnes (as compared to 24.21 million tonnes)
Rice: 6.8 million tonnes (as compared to 5.54 million tonnes last year)
Sugarcane: 66.47million tonnes (as compared to 63.75 million tonnes last year)
Maize: 4.53 million tonnes (as compared to 4.22 million tonnes last year)
Cotton: 12.77 million bales (as compared to 13.03 million bale last year)
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5:53pm
A few figures presented by Dar during his speech:
Growth in wholesale and retail trade: 5.18% (as compared to 3.38% last year).
Growth in Services Sector: 4.29%
Core inflation: 8.2% (as compared to 9.7% last year)
Exchange rate: 98.77 on May 21 (as compared to 99.66 last year)
Growth in transport, storage and communication: 2.98% (as compared to 2.88% last year)
Growth in the agriculture sector: 2.12% (as compared to 2.88% last year)
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5:48pm
Construction was -1.685% last year which rose to 11.31% this year.
Dar promises that the government will increase the GDP every year by 1%.
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5:46pm
GDP growth rate reached up to 4% for the first time in last six years.
Around 42 billion will be saved every year in loan repayment, claims Dar.
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5:45pm
The net government borrowing has shown tremendous improvement as it was Rs199.6 billion during July 1-May 9, 2014.
Stock market capitalisation increased by around 38%.
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5:43pm
Electricity generation and gas distribution was -16.33% last year which has increased to 3.72% this year.
At least 14 big industries reduced prices during FY2013-14.
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5:40pm
Around 3,665 new companies were registered this year, says the finance minister.
Large scale manufacturing has had a growth of 5.31% this year as compared to 4.08% last year.
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5:35pm
Treasury bills have been listed on the stock exchange for the first time in the history of the country. They are being traded in the open market market now, says Dar.
COMMENTS (11)
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@Zain: In 2009 it was above 4%. Source: Federal Bureau of Statistics Pakistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofPakistan#mediaviewer/File:Pakistangdpgrowth_rate.svg
Can anybody remember in 1999 the same finance minister cooked the financial figures that Pakistan was fined aprox 6Million dollars by the IMF I remember
As long as Boots don't over run the government in order to secure their budget, the growth will continue. The average person will not see positive side for some time as recovery takes time but it will happen. Stability is key, PMLN always produce better than others. Boots try to win a war against real enemy for change instead of over running Islamabad again, for sake of country your took oath to protect but continue to attack.
@PakPower: I like your comment. What you are describing is known as the regression fallacy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_fallacy
Business recorder mentioned this very same thing in a research piece on their site.
How much pakistan gdp contributed by saudi,chinese and recent turkey gifts !
This is good but I would like to clear a thing. When an economy is mismanaged (as it was in the PPP government) the growth rate shows a sharp decline. On the other hand, when the economy starts recovering, it is easy to see a surge in growth. This doesn't mean that the average man is well-off, not until this growth is built upon or sustained for the coming financial years. For instance check the GDP growth rate of South Sudan for last year, it is 24.7%!!
What about our main service sector - Terrorism? By how much did it increase in last fiscal year? Why is terrorism being provided subsidies by our Government? Putting a tax on it will generate so much revenue.. From all I've seen, the growth prospects for terrorism seem bright in near future, as well as on long term basis (especially the 'internal' type). If possible, it should be promoted by the Government's tourism department to attract more visitors and investment in Pakistan.
@fawad: In 2009-10 was 2.60%. FY08-09 0.4% FY 09-10 2.60% FY10-11 3.62% FY11-12 3.84% FY12-13 3.70%.
Yours is the Urdu columnist kind of comment. Living in a world of unverifiable facts and assertions.
GDP growth rate was 4.09 % in 2009. I don't understand when they say it has reached 4% after six years? Search Pakistan's GDP growth rate on google and you can challenge this figure given by the government.
Not much to expect this year, however We should be optimist for coming years something is better than nothing..... Even though Govt has no plan of any reforms especially in tax and power sectors.