The Ministry of Finance said that the expectations of economic recovery are strengthening on the basis of improvement in business confidence evident from industrial growth.
On Friday According to the monthly Economic Update and Outlook for the month of March 2021 released by the Finance Ministry, the prospects of economic growth are showing visible signs of improvement, however, the third wave of the pandemic is posing some downward risks.
Additionally, downside risk to cotton production would hamper targeted growth in the agriculture sector. The third wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan has raised the daily cases to around 3500 with a 2.2 percent death rate.
In response, the government has started a ‘smart lockdown’ strategy to ensure the public to observe SOPs strictly will be helpful in the continuation of economic recovery along with decelerating inflationary pressure and preserving external balance.
The expectations of economic recovery are strengthening on the basis of improvement in business confidence evident from industrial growth. The State Bank of Pakistan in its recent Monetary Policy statement is now projecting higher growth in the fiscal year 2021 compared to its previous anticipation.
The fiscal deficit stood at 2.9 percent of GDP (Rs 1309 billion) during July-January 2020-21 compared to 3.2 percent (Rs. 1430 billion) for the same period a year before. The primary balance continues to remain in surplus and increased by 0.9 percent of GDP to reach Rs 416 billion in July-January 2021 as opposed to (Rs. 153 billion, 0.3 percent of GDP for the same period of last year.
