IMF revises upward Pakistan’s GDP to 1.5% for 2021

January 27, 2021 (MLN): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Pakistan’s GDP growth rate forecast upward to 1.5 percent for the current fiscal year 2021 and 4 percent for the next fiscal year 2022 in its World Economic Outlook update for January 2021.

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) said that although recent vaccine approvals have raised hopes of a turnaround in the pandemic later this year, renewed waves and new variants of the virus pose concerns for the outlook.

The strength of the recovery is projected to vary significantly across countries, depending on access to medical interventions, the effectiveness of policy support, exposure to cross-country spillovers, and structural characteristics entering the crisis, the report added.

Many countries, particularly low-income developing economies, entered the crisis with high debt that is set to rise further during the pandemic. The global community will need to continue working closely to ensure adequate access to international liquidity for these countries. Where sovereign debt is unsustainable, eligible countries should work with creditors to restructure their debt under the Common Framework agreed by the G20, the IMF’s WEO concluded.

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook for 2021 showed that Global Economy is projected to grow at 5.5 percent for 2021, Advanced Economies at 4.3 percent, Emerging and Developing Asia economies at 8.3 percent and Sub-Saharan Africa at 3.2 percent. India is projected to grow at 11.5 percent, China 8.1 percent, Malaysia 7 percent, Turkey 6 percent, France 5.5 percent, USA 5.1 percent, UK 4.5 percent and Canada 3.6 percent.

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