Pakistan reeling from its worst economic, political crises: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 31 (ANI): Pakistan is reeling from one of its worst economic and political crises which has impacted the masses. This comes despite constant efforts of the coalition government to tackle the same, Geo News reported.

Geo News is a Pakistani news channel.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has warned of challenges originating from uncertain external and domestic economic environments, including higher inflation and external debt repayments, due to lesser foreign exchange inflows, according to Geo News.

The ministry, in its monthly outlook bulletin, projected that the inflation for the month of May will remain in the range of 34-36 per cent.

“Pakistan’s economy experienced 0.29 per cent provisional GDP growth in the fiscal year 2022-23 on account of many challenges emanating from the uncertain external and domestic economic environment.”

“The challenges triggered CPI inflation to remain on a higher trajectory despite monetary tightening primarily due to the rupee depreciation. External payments also remained burdened due to lesser foreign exchange inflows,” the ministry stated, according to Geo News.

Inflationary pressure in May is expected to continue as observed in the month of April. “The potential reasons for rising price level are flood damages, disruptions in supply chains, devaluation brought by the macro-economic imbalances and political uncertainty,” it added.

However, improvement in the global supply chain will ease domestic prices in the coming months. The global commodity prices fell 14 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 and by end-March, they were roughly 30 per cent lower than their historic peak in June 2022.

The favourable international commodity price outlook is expected to offset the negative impact of currency depreciation. In addition, the better crop outlook due to timely measures i.e. Kissan Package and expected political stability would help achieve price stability.