Economic Survey 2023-24 to be unveiled on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Survey of Pakistan 2023-24, the pre-budget document, containing the details of major socio-economic achievements during the outgoing fiscal year 2023-24, will be unveiled on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will launch the pre-budget document in the National Assembly, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry. The survey comes ahead of the federal budget 2024-25, slated to be presented on June 12 (Wednesday).

Pakistan’s Economic Survey will provide details about the major socio-economic developments, performance, and economic trends of various sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing & industry, services, energy, information technology & telecom, capital markets, health, education, transport and communication etc.

Annual trends of major economic indicators regarding inflation, trade and payments, public debt, population, employment, climate change, and social protections will also be described in detail in the survey.

According to the Planning Commission’s estimations made in the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), Pakistan’s economy faced significant challenges at the beginning of 2023-24, primarily due to lagged impacts of economic disruptions of previous year. However, the economy moderately recovered in 2023-24 and grew by 2.4%.

During the year 2023-24, the primary driver of growth was agriculture sector, growing by 6.3%, owing to bumper outputs of wheat, cotton and rice.

Industrial sector grew by 1.2% mainly due to slowdown in large-scale manufacturing activities. However, there was growth in mining and quarrying, small-scale manufacturing, and construction.

Services sector also registered 1.2% growth as wholesale and retail trade experienced a mere 0.3% growth. Transport, storage and communications also recorded a low growth of 1.2% due to subdued demand.

Total revenue collection grew by 41% during July-March 2023-24 that outpaced the 36.6% growth of total expenditure. Both tax and non-tax revenues grew by 29.3% and 89.8%, respectively. Markup expenditure constituted 40% of total expenditure.

During July-April 2023-24, average inflation was recorded at 26% as compared to 28.2% in the same period of last year. A continuously declining inflationary trend has been observed since January 2024.