Economic Survey Pakistan misses GDP targ

Economic Survey Pakistan misses GDP targ

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government revenue collection inched up 10.4 percent to in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending June 30, the finance ministry said on Thursday.Exports through April slowed by 9 percent year-on-year to $18.8 billion, weighed down by crop failures production of main export cotton, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told reporters.The current account deficit through March eased a bit to $1.6 billion, or 0.6 percent of GDP, according to ministry figures.In a press conference ahead of the report’s release, Dar had said the current account deficit number was $1.52 billion.Foreign direct investment through April was $1.03 billion, compared with $907 million the same period of the last fiscal year.Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq while launching the Economic Survey, a day before presenting annual budget for 2016-17, shed light on macroeconomic performance achieved by the country in outgoing financial year.The government, however, missed GDP target largely due to poor performance in agriculture sector.’ The agriculture sector witnessed decreased by 0.19 pc, missing the growth target, which was set at 3.9 pc.The country, he said missed target in the agriculture sector due to 28 percent decline in cotton crop , adding that the government announced Rs600 billion Kissan package during the current fiscal year.’He said the government would announce package for growth in agriculture sector in the next fiscal years.’He said the budget deficit for the current year remained 1.52 billion dollars. The country, however, seemed to have made significant achievement in industrial sector where growth rate was recorded at 6.8 pc against the target of 6.4 pc. Services sector, the minister told media, also grew in outgoing fiscal year.Dar said Foreign Direct Investment increased by 5.4pc and most of it took place in oil and gas sector. ‘Exports in last 10 months stood at USD18.18 billion,’ he said, adding that 10-month import bill stands at USD32.75 billion while foreign remittances stood at USD16.03 billion in 10 months.”””’