IMF acknowledges robust economic activity in Pakistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has acknowledged Pakistan’s stronger economic activity and kept the global growth forecast largely unchanged at six per cent for the current year and 4.9pc for the next year.

In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) update released on Tuesday, the IMF revised downward India’s current year growth forecast by three percentage points because of widespread Delta variant and resultant subdued economic activities.

“Projections are revised up for the Middle East and Central Asia due to robust activity in some countries (such as Morocco and Paki­stan), partially offset by downgrades of some others,” the IMF noted but did not specifically mention Pakis­tan’s expected growth rate that it had forecast in April this year at 4pc for 2022 and 5pc by 2026.

The Fund said the 2021 global forecast was unchanged from the April 2021 WEO, but with offsetting revisions. Prospects for emerging market and developing economies have been marked down for 2021, especially for emerging Asia. By contrast, the forecast for advanced economies has been revised up. These revisions reflect pandemic developments and changes in policy support.