Pakistan’s economy has slid to danger levels, says IMF
New Delhi: Expressing serious concerns over the direction in which Pakistan’s economy is heading, the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday urged for a quick and effective look at the country’s near-team policies to regain fiscal discipline.
“Pakistan’s fiscal deficit was all-set to reach 5.5 per cent of the country’s GDP – considerably higher than Islamabad’s previous prediction of 4.1 per cent”, IMF said.
For the uninitiated, fiscal deficit occurs when a government’s expenditure is greater than the government’s revenue. And this gap is what IMF fears will widen in Pakistan at a time when rival India has projected a fiscal deficit of 3.3 per cent of its GDP for 2018-19 financial year.
The IMF board has also reportedly projected the economic growth rate to stand at 5.6 per cent instead of 6 per cent targeted by Islamabad.
KV Correspondent
