Pakistan’s FY23 growth weighed down by tighter monetary, fiscal policies: ADB

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said Pakistan’s economic growth in the previous fiscal year was weighed down by tighter monetary and fiscal policies pursued by the government to safeguard macroeconomic stability, pervasive inflation and significant damage from flooding. In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) July 2023 published on Wednesday, the ADB said the GDP projections for Nepal and Pakistan were “adjusted down for FY2023 and maintained for FY2024”. In its April outlook, the ADB had forecasted Pakistan’s GDP growth at 0.6pc for FY23 and 2pc for FY24. Today’s July outlook said that the forecast for the current fiscal year was “maintained on the assumption that external and domestic conditions improve”. “The ADO April 2023 projection for Pakistan in FY2024 assumes that the government will continue reform as recommended by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) under a new policy-support programme approved on July 12,” the Manila-based lending agency said. Regarding inflation in Pakistan, the report stated that the actual inflation in Pakistan in fiscal year 2023 was higher than projected.