Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-10

Pakistan Economic Survey 2009-10 Highlights
Pak Economy Add comments
Jun 042010
Associated Press of Pakistan
Following are the highlights of Economic Survey 2009-10 launched by Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh on Friday.
— The economy grew by 4.1% during 2009-10 after a modest growth of 1.2 % in 2008-09.
— The agriculture grew by 2% against the target of 3.8 % and previous year’s growth rate of 4 %. While the crops sub-sector declined by 0.4 % over the previous year, livestock posted a healthy rise of 4.1 %.
— The industrial output expanded by 4.9 %, with Large Scale Manufacturing posting a 4.4 % rate of growth.
— The services sector grew by 4.6 % as compared to 1.6 % in 2008-09.
— The unemployment rate has increased to 5.5 % from 5.2 %, largely due to the increase in urban unemployment to 7.1 % from 6.3 %.
— A substantial decline in Foreign Direct Investment inflows for the period also contributed to the decline in fixed investment in the year.
— Per capita income is estimated at Rs.87,810 (US$1,051) in 2009-10, based on revised population numbers released by the sub-group-II for the 10th 5-year Peoples Plan2010-15.
— Pakistan has achieved impressive initial gains in restoring macroeconomic stability in the aftermath of the balance of payments crisis of 2008.
— For 2009-10, the fiscal deficit is aimed to be kept in check at 5.1 % of GDP, despite the absorption of larger-than-budgeted security-related spending.
— The external current account deficit was contained to 5.6 % of GDP (US$9.3 billion) in 2008-09 from a high of 8.3 % of GDP in 2007-08 (US$13.9 billion). The current deficit is expected to decline to under 3 % of GDP in the current year.
— Foreign exchange reserves have been rebuilt to nearly US$15 billion, from their low of under US$6 billion in October 2008.
— Inflation declined from 25 % in October 2008 to a recent low of 8.9 % in October 2009, though it has accelerated sharply of recent and is showing...