Economy to do better: Fitch

Fitch Ratings has recommended Pakistan to remain under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan programme for the next few years as the bailout packages have supported economic stabilisation and pushed up credit rating. It anticipated that Pakistan’s economy would outperform other regions amid global economic slowdown in the ongoing fiscal year. In its APAC credit outlook conference on Wednesday, the global ratings agency recalled that it had upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating to “CCC” in July 2023 after the country acquired the loan programme of $3 billion in June. Earlier, the agency downgraded the country’s rating to “CCC-” in February 2023 after its foreign exchange reserves hit multi-year lows below $3 billion, providing less than one month of import cover. “Both (the rating actions in February and July) were related to changes in its external financing outlook,” Fitch said. The agency said the “Asia-Pacific’s GDP growth (including Pakistan) would outperform other regions amid global slowdown.”