IMF projects Pakistan’s GDP growth to stand at 2.5% in current fiscal year

For the Fiscal Year 2023-24, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that stagflation in the country would persist and also lowered the GDP growth projection. The GDP growth rate of Pakistan would stand at 2.5% for the current fiscal compared to the government’s 3.5% target, according to reports

The IMF has cautioned that in addition to stagflation, the unemployment rate will continue to be high, rising to 8% in FY2024 from 8.5% in FY2023. In FY2022, the unemployment rate was 6.2%. The unemployment rate has gone up in the last two fiscal years, according to data from the IMF.

The report also projected that the GDP growth rate turned into -0.5% in the last financial year 2022-23 under the PDM-led regime but then the government gave a provisional growth rate of 0.29% for the previous fiscal year. By FY2028, the country's GDP growth rate might reach 5%, according to IMF projections.