Unveiling an important budgetary document, Economic Survey
(2021-22) here on Thursday, Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail termed the GDP growth rate of 5.97 percent during the outgoing fiscal year
as unsustainable, saying the country needed to stabilize the economy before
moving towards sustainable economic growth.
He said the country’s economic growth witnessed a higher
growth during the year, but that resulted in soaring Current Account Deficit
(CAD) to a level where the government had no option other than slowing down the
economy to control the deficit.
Addressing a press conference here after launching the Economic
Survey of Pakistan (2021-22), the minister said the growth rate was according
to the new base year. “Had it been based on the old base-year, the GDP growth
rate would have been lower.”
The finance minister was flanked by minister for planning
Ahsan Iqbal, minister for power Khurrum Dastagir, and State Minister for Finance
Ayesha Ghous Pasha.
ISLAMABAD, Jun 09 (APP):
The finance minister said during the current fiscal year,
the country’s imports increased by 48% to $75 bn whereas the exports increased
by 28 pc. He highlighted the government could manage to pay only 40% of
the import bill out of the exports’ earning, the rest is managed from other sources
including taking loan. /More