The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said Pakistan’s economic growth in the fiscal year 2023 remained lower than expectations.
The projection was hindered by tighter monetary and fiscal measures to protect macroeconomic stability, widespread inflation, and considerable flooding damage, according to Asian Development Outlook (ADO) July 2023.
However, it maintained forecast for Pakistan’s economy in FY2024 on the assumption that external and domestic conditions improve.
Additionally, it stated that the ADO April 2023 prediction for Pakistan in FY2024 presupposes that the government would keep up with reforms as advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of a fresh policy-support programme authorised on July 12.
Moreover, the report stated that Pakistan’s actual inflation in FY2023 was higher than anticipated, maintaining the sub-regional prediction at its previous level.
“Continued demand-side pressures in Pakistan play an outsized role in the upward revision to the sub-regional inflation forecast for 2024,” it said.
Given balancing developments, growth forecasts for East Asia are maintained at 4.6% in 2023 and at 4.2% in 2024. For South Asia, growth forecasts are at 5.5% in 2023 and 6.1% in 2024, and for the Pacific at 3.3% in 2023 and 2.8% in 2024.
