Economy grows by 3.7% in Q1 2025, defying flood fallout, official projections

The government on Tuesday approved a 3.7% economic growth rate for the first quarter of the current fiscal year on the back of growth across all major sectors of the economy, beating its own official reports of severe damage to agriculture caused by the "devastating floods". The National Accounts Committee (NAC), the government body mandated to approve economic growth numbers, approved the overall 3.71% gross value addition for the first quarter of 2025-26. The NAC meeting was chaired by Secretary Planning Awais Manzur Sumra. However, the output figures across various sectors appear surprising, with some even contradicting the government's own reports and data shared with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the summer floods.