ISLAMABAD: Expressing satisfaction on the latest economic indicators, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs Dr Miftah Ismail on Tuesday said that the economy had registered a 13 years high growth at 5.79 percent in FY2018.
“It may be recalled that the economy had stagnated during 2008-13 with an average growth rate of 2.82 percent,” he said in a statement.
However, he added, due to the policies pursued by the incumbent government, the growth rate improved to 4.05% in the first year and had since maintained an upward trajectory, culminating in the current years’ highest growth rate of 5.79 percent.
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“The average increase during the last five years has been 4.76%. Industrial sector maintained its upward growth trajectory at 5.8 percent. This is the highest level of growth in the last 10 years,” he said.
The PM’s adviser on finance and revenue said Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) touched 6.13 percent growth during the first eight months of the CFY, which was the highest in last 11 years.
“The contribution of sugar production, where crushing started later than usual, is likely to further improve the final numbers for the year. Agriculture sector has also preformed impressively and achieved 3.8 percent growth which is again the highest in the last 13 years,” he said.
Miftah said production of all major crops registered significant growth. The services sector had achieved 6.43 percent growth during current fiscal year. It was the second year in a row that its growth was above 6 percent. Inflation was contained at 3.85 percent during first nine months of current fiscal year, he said.
He said the government had therefore been successful in achieving its objective of high growth and low inflation. The containment of inflation was due to effective monetary and stabilization policies adopted by the government.
“The current trend suggests that inflation will remain below the target of 6 percent during current fiscal year,” he said.
The adviser noted that the external sector was also improving with the exports gradually picking up and growth in imports slowing down.
He said that during March 2018 exports had shown a 24 percent growth year on year, while imports had increased by 6 percent. At the same time foreign remittances were also maintaining the increasing trend, he said.
