As the annual federal budget is due to be announced in the first week of June, a formal outlook of the economy shows that the government has achieved a blend of successes and failures during the year. The economic indicators show that the government has failed to achieve a growth target of 5.5 percent to its gross domestic product during the current fiscal year due to bleak performance of the agriculture sector. The government had set the annual target of 3.9 percent for the agriculture sector but it gained a negative growth of 0.19 percent during the year, neutralizing the positive effects of other sectors. The cotton output has shown a visible decline, posting a negative growth of 27 percent as 10.1 million bales were produced against the target of 13.96m bales. Due to low yield, the cotton ginning has declined by 21 percent. Cotton output achieved a growth of 9.5 percent as 13.9 million bales were produced last year. The livestock sector recorded a growth of 3.63 percent against the assigned target of 4.1 percent while fisheries surpassed its target of 3 percent and recorded a growth of 3.3 percent.
On the positive side, the economic indicators show higher than targeted growth in the industrial sector — 6.8 percent against the set target of 6.4 percent, the services sector grew by 5.7 percent while forestry crossed its target of 4 percent, recording a growth of 8.8 during the current financial year. On another note, the mining sector has recorded a growth of 6.8 percent against the target of 6 percent. However, the large scale manufacturing could not meet its growth target of 6 percent and stayed at 4.6 percent but the small and household manufacturing grew by 8.2 percent against the set target of 8.3 percent. The construction sector can be regarded as the engine of growth and it recorded a growth of 13.1 percent against a target of 8.5 percent. The electricity and gas sector has improved by 12.2 percent against its annual target of 6 percent. The country still facing the nemesis of load shedding which is haunting the overall economy and adversely affecting not only the industrial sector but also quality of life of common man.
There is a huge potential in Pakistan’s agriculture sector to feed not only its citizens but also the whole of the central Asia. But the government will have to change its old tactics and introduce crucial reforms to bring it at par with the corporate sector. The government will have to encourage the private sector to take interest in the agricultural economy which can be developed on modern lines to change the lot of this nation.
