Govt fails to meet economic goals ahead of survey release

The National Economic Survey will be presented on Monday, while the government has failed to achieve the economic growth target.

The federal government will present an economic survey based on the economic performance of the fiscal year 2024-25 on Monday, according to which the interim growth rate of Pakistan’s economy in the current fiscal year was 2.68%, which is significantly lower than the set target of 3.6%.

The size of the economy during the current fiscal year increased by $39.3 billion to $410.96 billion, compared to $371.66 billion last year.

The size of the economy increased by Rs 9,600 billion at the national level, and the total volume was Rs 114.7 thousand billion, which is a significant increase compared to Rs 105.1 thousand billion last year. Similarly, the annual per capita income increased by $144 to $1,680.

The overall performance of the country’s agricultural sector remained disappointing. The growth rate of major crops was negative 13.49 percent, while the target was negative 4.5 percent. Cotton ginning also saw a sharp decline, and this sector shrank to negative 19 percent. The overall growth of the agricultural sector was 0.56 percent, which was less than the target of 2 percent.

Similarly, there was a slight improvement in livestock and other crops, whose growth rates were 4.72 and 4.78 percent, respectively. The forestry and fisheries sectors also lagged behind the targets.

The overall growth rate of the industrial sector was 4.77 percent, which was higher than the target of 4.4 percent. Small industries and slaughtering recorded growth of 8.81 and 6.34 percent, respectively, while large industries contracted at a rate of minus 1.53 percent. The electricity, gas, and water supply sector recorded an exceptional growth of 28.88 percent, which is many times higher than the set target of 2.5 percent.

The construction sector also performed better than expected, with a growth of 6.61 percent.

The overall growth of the services sector was 2.91 percent, which is lower than the target of 4.1 percent. The growth of wholesale and retail trade was very low, at only 0.14 percent.

Information and communication, finance, real estate, education, health, and social work saw moderate growth. Public administration and social security grew by 9.92 percent, almost 3 times the target of 3.4 percent.

The economic survey revealed an overall unbalanced and mixed performance of the economy, with a few sectors showing significant growth while several key sectors lagged behind targets.