Pakistan hopeful of 4.8% GDP growth in FY22
Pakistan has been buoyed by surpassing growth projections in the current financial year despite suffering a third wave of COVID-19 infections
Pakistan, currently in talks with the IMF about its $6 billion bailout programme, on Friday set a growth target at 4.8% of GDP for financial 2021-22 and a fiscal deficit target of 6.3%.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin set out the annual budget before parliament, with a total spending outlay of 8.4 trillion rupees ($53.93 billion).
The South Asian nation has been buoyed by surpassing growth projections in the current financial year despite suffering a third wave of COVID-19 infections. GDP growth was clocked provisionally at 3.96%, compared to a target of 2.1%, for FY2020-21.
"We want to make sure of a growth rate of 6% to 7% in the next two to three years," Tarin told parliament.
Tarin also announced the country would set a target of 5.8 trillion rupees ($37.24 billion) in revenue collection for FY2021/22.
Pakistan is currently in talks with the IMF as part of the sixth review of its 39-month bailout programme, which it entered in 2019.
The revenue target has been a key topic in negotiations, and Tarin has said the IMF and Pakistani government debated ways to achieve the target, which is 23% higher than the current year's expected collection.
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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.