GDP growth at 3.3 percent, falls short of 6.2-percent target: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan achieved a GDP growth of 3.3 percent during the outgoing fiscal year, falling short of its targeted 6.2 percent, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, said Monday.

In a press conference here in the federal capital, Dr Hafeez Shaikh explained that positive measures were being taken for the country’s economic stability. “Past governments entangled country in a ‘quicksand of loans’,” he said.

He added: “When the incumbent government came to power, the economy was in shambles.

“We are now making effort to pull the country out of the challenging conditions.”

Earlier, Dr Shaikh shared the details of a pre-budget document titled “Economic Survey 2018-19,” formally launched by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, with the media at a press conference here at the P-Block Auditorium.

The adviser spoke of the key economic indicators and the performance of different sectors of the economy as well as an overview of Pakistan’s economic progress in recent years, official sources said.

The report highlighted the main features of the policies undertaken by the incumbent government, which, it said, were focused on bringing macro-economic stability and putting the country on a growth trajectory.