Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue & Economic Affairs Dr. Miftah Ismail has expressed satisfaction on the latest economic indicators. In a statement here on Tuesday he said that the economy has registered a 13 years high growth at 5.79 percent in FY2018. It may be recalled that the economy had stagnated during 2008-13 with an average growth rate of 2.82 percent. Due to the policies pursued by the PML-N government, the growth rate improved to 4.05% in the first year and has since maintained an upward trajectory, culminating in the current years’ highest growth rate of 5.79 percent. The average increase during the last five years has been 4.76%. Industrial sector maintained its upward growth trajectory at 5.8 percent. This is the highest level of growth in the last 10 years. Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) touched 6.13 percent growth during the first eight months of the CFY, which is the highest in last 11 years. The contribution of sugar production, where crushing started later than usual, is likely to further improve the final numbers for the year. Agriculture sector has also preformed impressively and achieved 3.8 percent growth which is again the highest in the last 13 years. Production of all major crops registered significant growth. The services sector has achieved 6.43 percent growth during current fiscal year. It is the second year in a row that its growth is above 6 percent. Inflation is contained at 3.85 percent during first nine months of current fiscal year. The government has therefore been successful in achieving its objective of high growth and low inflation. The containment of inflation is due to effective monetary and stabilization policies adopted by the government. The current trend suggests that, inflation will remain below the target of 6 percent during current fiscal year. The Adviser noted that the external sector was also improving with the exports gradually picking up and growth in imports slowing down. He said that during March 2018 exports had shown a 24 percent growth year on year, while imports had increased by 6 percent. At the same time foreign remittances were also maintaining the increasing trend. If these trends continue, the foreign exchange reserve position, at the end of the current financial year, could be better than the current projections, the Adviser said. *****
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