Daily Times

The World Bank report for year 2022 cited the recent floods in Pakistan putting the nation into severe economical and financial crisis, and made around nine million population fall into the poverty bracket. The situation portrayed by the report predicts the economy of Pakistan to grow within the limit of 2% in current financial year. Devastating floods damaged the country’s GDP by 4.8% and severely affected the agricultural sector, that employees 37% of the Pakistan’s population. According to the report, the value of Pakistani rupee against dollar fell by 14%, with the highest ever experienced inflation rate of 24.5% in December 2022. The report also expressed concerns about infrastructure and agricultural production damage, while, extreme weather conditions could affect the supply of essential food commodities in the country. The current account deficit (CAD) in previous year widened to US$9.0 billion, from a surplus of US$1.2 billion in 2021; as imports value doubled to 54.4% from 27.3%. Despite high tax revenue growth on the back of surging imports, the fiscal deficit widened by 20.6% in 2022; due to higher spending on vaccine procurement, settlement of power sector arrears, and development projects. The consolidated fiscal deficit reached Rs1,372 billion in 2022 from Rs1,138 billion in 2021, report stated. Energy inflation reached 25.1% and 22.6% in urban areas, while increase in global oil prices and depreciation of the Rupee led to more expensive energy imports.