Upward economic trajectory: FinMin Aurangzeb rolls out Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25

Islamabad: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday unveiled the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25, a pre-budget document that contains details of major socio-economic achievements during the outgoing fiscal year.

The survey serves as a vital document ahead of the annual federal budget which will be presented tomorrow (Tuesday), offering detailed insights into the country’s socio-economic performance over the outgoing fiscal year.

Speaking during a press conference in Islamabad, the finance minister talked about the global economic outlook, noting that global GDP growth was estimated to decline to 2.8pc in 2025 from 3.5pc two years ago.

“Our recovery needs to be looked at in a global context,” he said.

Unveiling the Survey, Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb mentioned that this is a gradual recovery, but the right way to go is to achieve sustainable growth.

He said this upward economic trajectory is a result of effective macroeconomic management, improved fiscal and external account balances, and a significant reduction in inflation.

He said that our recovery should also be seen in the context of global GDP growth which remained 3.3 percent last year and is estimated to be downed to 2.8 percent this year.

The Finance Minister expressed satisfaction over major decline in inflation rate saying it has come down to 4.6 percent as compared to twenty-three percent last year.  

He emphasized that the government consolidated recovery in the current fiscal year.

Giving a breakup of the performance of different sectors, he pointed out that the industries grew by 4.8 percent. Small manufacturing grew by one point three percent while the large scale manufacturing contracted, but it remained less than the last year.  He, however, said that the auto sector went up by forty percent, wearing apparel eight percent, textiles 2 percent and petroleum products 4.5 percent.

He said services registered growth of 2.9 percent, Information and Communication 6.5 percent, Construction & Real Estate 3.8 percent and Food Services 4.1 percent.

As regards agriculture, the Finance Minister said it grew at point six percent. He said livestock went up by 4.7 percent while poultry performed extremely well by growing at eight percent. Fisheries and forestry also registered growth. He said fruits and vegetables collectively grew by four point eight percent.

He said that Agriculture Credit increased by sixteen percent, crossing over two trillion rupees.  He expressed the commitment to further increase the Credit in the entire supply and value chains of the agriculture, emphasizing that this will make a difference in the major crops.

On the external side, he said that our current account had a surplus of 1.9 billion dollars in the first ten months of current fiscal year, expressing the confidence that the year will be closed on surplus. 

He said there has been increase of seven percent in overall exports with exports of IT standing at 3.1 billion dollars.  He said overall imports increased by 11.7 percent. The imports of machinery and transport witnessed increase of 16.5 percent and twenty six percent respectively, emphasizing that this will augur well for the agriculture and industrial sectors.

The Finance Minister also mentioned the expression of confidence shown by international financial institutions on the country's economy as well as the upgrading of its ranking by Fitch and Moody's.

He said Pakistan secured the recent tranche of IMF regardless of all odds and referred to the obstacles tried to create by India in this regard. He said world financial institutions and our bilateral partners are standing by Pakistan on the economic front.

Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasized the need for enhanced allocation of resources to deal with the challenge of climate change.  He said we will focus on projects in the next fiscal year that enhance our resilience and adaptation.

The Finance Minister said that revenue collection grew up twenty six percent in first eleven months of current fiscal year.

Muhammad Aurangzeb said that economic recovery consolidated during the current fiscal year and expressed the firm determination to stay the course to ensure sustainable growth trajectory.