KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account stood at $773million in surplus during the first ten months of the current fiscal year (July-April) against -$4.657billion recorded in the same period last year, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday.
During the said period, the GDP of the country stood at $246.728bn in the last ten months compared to $220.113bn, which is up by $26.5bn or 12pc.
According to the market analysts, the country’s economy performed beyond expectations with all major macro-economic indicators showing positive trend amid the COVID-19, resulting in a 3.94pc economic growth rate in this fiscal year compared to a revised negative 0.47pc in 2019-20.
SBP’s official account tweeted, “Current account balance (CAB) posted a small deficit of $200mn in April 21, 61pc lower than in Apr20. Through the first 10 months of FY 20-21, CAB remains in surplus of $800m, a significant turnaround from the $4.7bn deficit during the same period last year.
It further said, “With the economy rebounding strongly in FY-21, imports are picking up but are offset by unprecedented growth in remittances and recovery in exports. With the CAB contained and FX reserves at a 4 year high, the economic revival is on a sound and sustainable footing.”
The analysts claimed that the GDP’s figures are not fudged as opposition leaders claimed. The GDP growth is real as the figures show. Almost all the analysts claimed that the GDP of the country would be below 4pc in the current fiscal year.
An analyst, who requested not to mention his name, said, “the finance ministry will revise GDP’s figure of 3.94pc to 3pc as most of the international monitoring agencies like International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and others have predicted the GDP around below 2pc.
The growth figures came as a surprise as the SBP had estimated GDP growth at 3pc, while the finance ministry’s projection was slightly on the lower side. The growth projection of multilateral donors — the IMF and World Bank was between 1.3pc and 1.5pc for the fiscal year 2020-21.
The agriculture sector posted a paltry 2.77pc growth, while industrial output grew 3.57pc. The surge in growth is partly explained by the low-base of last year. The services sector was a major reason for economic growth this year and it has witnessed a growth of 4.43pc this year.
Provisional estimates for the fiscal year 2020-21 for GDP and Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) have been presented on the basis of the latest data available for six to nine months, said an official announcement on Friday, painting a better picture of the overall economy in the third year of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.
The per capita income in dollar terms has jumped by 13.4pc to $1,543 during this fiscal year from $1,361 last year.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the agriculture sector grew by 2.77pc during current year 2020-21 against 3.31pc in 2019-20. The important crops increased by 4.65pc on the back of the historic highest-ever production of wheat, rice and maize. Sugarcane registered the second highest-ever production.
The growth in production of wheat, rice, sugarcane and maize stands at 8.1pc, 13.6pc, 22pc and 7.38pc, respectively. However, cotton witnessed a negative growth of 22.8pc, which also resulted in a 15.6pc decline in cotton ginning. Other crops, including vegetables, fruits and green fodder, showed positive growth of 1.41pc.
