Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh presented the Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20 on Thursday, highlighting the fragile state of the Pakistani economy in the outgoing fiscal year. Shaikh revealed that the GDP is expected to contract 0.38% in FY 2020 despite 2.67% growth in the agricultural sector, as the industrial and services sectors see growth of -2.64% and -0.59% respectively this year.
Shaikh highlighted that the government did not taken any loans from the State Bank of Pakistan the entire year and did not give any supplementary grant to any department as it wanted to ensure the public’s money was spent carefully.
The report made note of several developments in the global economy in FY 2020 which reverberated around the world. It noted that protests in Hong Kong triggered the worst crisis in Asia’s biggest financial center. Likewise, Indian attempts at annexation of Kashmir led to suspension of trade between Islamabad and New Delhi, while the UK’s exit from the EU changed the European market irrevocably. Meanwhile, the US-China trade war continued to cast a pall on the global economy, while global oil prices slumped. As global players navigated these challenges, the novel coronavirus engulfed the entire world, disrupting supply chains and bringing economic activity to a standstill.
The report’s authors noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has essentially wiped out any economic performance of any economy due to the financial and health crises it sparked, not to mention the resultant collapse of commodity prices.
Source: The News
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