LAHORE: The country’s leading economists have expressed mixed view on the provisional estimate of 3.94 per cent GDP growth rate projected by the National Accounts Committee (NAC) and said it negates the government’s own estimate of 2.9pc GDP growth approved by the federal cabinet last month.
Last month, the federal cabinet approved the medium-term budget strategy paper and shared it with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this paper, the government estimated 2.9pc GDP growth for ongoing fiscal year. “But now, all of sudden within a couple of weeks, how it has jumped to 3.94pc,” wonders former finance minister Dr Hafeez Pasha. “The State Bank of Pakistan’s estimate ranged between 2.8pc and 3pc while the estimates of the IMF and the World Bank stood at about 2pc and 1.5pc, respectively,” he said.