Newly revised official figures have challenged Pakistan's account of economic stabilisation, a 29 October report says. Citing an article in the Greek news website Directus, the report says the latest National Accounts Committee figures contradict the earlier narrative that the economy had stabilised.

IMF projections differ from official estimates

The committee recorded growth of 2.0 per cent in the final quarter of the last financial year and revised the annual figure down to 3.65 per cent, the report says. It also added as much as $14.8 billion to recorded imports across five financial years. A finance ministry committee found discrepancies of roughly $18.13 billion between PRAL and Pakistan Single Window import data, with the annual gap widening from $1.4 billion in FY2021 to $6.22 billion in FY2025.

Trade figures point the other way

The IMF's regional assessment this month did not endorse Pakistan's official account on almost every count, the report says. The IMF puts the current account deficit near 1 per cent of output, roughly $4.5 billion, against Islamabad's estimate of about $2.5 billion. Its growth forecast of 3.5 per cent sits below the official 4 per cent, and gross financing needs are put at 22 to 25 per cent of output.

Fourth-quarter sector details show industry contracting 4.7 per cent, while electricity, gas and water supply shrank 33.2 per cent. The trade deficit for the first quarter of this fiscal year widened by more than 15 per cent to $10.79 billion, with imports rising by over 13 per cent against export growth of 11 per cent. The report attributes the earlier improvement shown on paper to figures it describes as fudged, a characterisation that comes from the Directus article it cites, not from the National Accounts Committee itself.

Sources: IANS, BizzBuzz News.