World Bank makes big cut to Pakistan's GDP growth projection
The World Bank on Tuesday projected about four million people falling below the lower middle-income poverty line amid economic growth plummeting to just 0.4% against a budgeted target of 5 percent.
The World Bank, in its report Pakistan Development Update, warned the South Asian nation about serious dangers to its economic and debt viability projecting unexciting economic growth, with an average inflation rate of 29.5 percent for the current fiscal year.
The global financial institution maintained that poverty is likely to increase to 37.2% in the current fiscal year, pushing around 4 million people into poverty. World Bank linked soaring food prices to greater food insecurity in Pakistan, which spends a larger share of income on food.
World Bank Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine said the IMF programme is an anchor to staying on course for reforms, and added that this was not an easy time to write the Pakistan Development Update report.
The crisis hit the nation has lost access to global capital markets, which is now making it difficult to arrange even additional loans to revive the IMF bailout funds. The country of over 220 million is facing its worst economic crisis for months with an acute balance of payments crisis as negotiations with global lender remained uncertain since previous year.
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast Pakistan’s economic growth plunging to 0.6% from 6% previous year owing to the prevailing political crisis, flood-oriented economic losses, foreign exchange challenges and tighter macroeconomic policies at home and a challenging external environment.
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