LAHORE: A IPR report predicted that the national economy would fall well short of its target growth rate of 5.1 percent, disclosed Managing Director Institute of Policy Reforms, Dr Hafiz Pasha.
The report on six months of economic progress depicts below the par performance of the country. He regretted that despite ambitious plans of the government, the Pakistan economy remained mired in difficulties during the first half of the current fiscal year.
He said, “A major concern is continued slow growth in large scale manufacturing,” adding that industrial growth this fiscal year would be even lower than the four percent achieved last year. Public and private investment is weak, tax collection has fallen well below the target, and exports have declined in the face of an overvalued exchange rate, he said. Pasha said all determinants of growth such as agriculture and industrial production remained sluggish and below the growth rate of the last fiscal year and that the trade deficit widened by 36 percent.
