Latest news with #ReimaginingaDigitalPakistan
Arab News
24-04-2025
- Business
- Arab News
World Bank projects 2.7 percent growth for Pakistan in FY2025
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's economy is projected to grow by 2.7 percent in the fiscal year ending June 2025, the World Bank said on Wednesday, indicating signs of stabilization amid easing inflation and improved financial conditions. The World Bank, in its latest report titled 'Reimagining a Digital Pakistan,' said the real GDP growth is expected to benefit from a rebound in private consumption and investment, driven by easing inflation, lower interest rates and improving business confidence. This improvement in Pakistan's economy is supported by declining inflation, which fell to 1.5 percent in February, prompting the central bank to reduce its policy rate to 12 percent after a series of cuts totaling 1,000 basis points since June 2024. Despite these positive indicators, the country faces significant external financing challenges, including over $22 billion in external debt repayments, highlighting the need for continued structural reforms and fiscal consolidation. 'Pakistan's economy continues to stabilize and is expected to grow by 2.7 percent in the current fiscal year ending June 2025, up from 2.5 percent in the previous year,' the World Bank said. It added that agricultural growth remained modest due to unfavorable weather conditions and pest outbreaks while industrial activity weakened due to rising input costs, increased taxation and cuts in government expenditure. The report said growth in Pakistan's services sector remained 'muted' due to spillover effects from weak agricultural and industrial activity, which will make it challenging for the government to create jobs and reduce poverty. 'Pakistan's key challenge is to transform recent gains from stabilization into economic growth that is sustainable and adequate for poverty reduction,' World Bank Country Director for Pakistan, Najy Benhassine, said. 'High-impact reforms to prioritize an efficient and progressive tax system, support a market-determined exchange rate, reduce import tariffs to boost exports, improve the business environment and streamline the public sector would signal strong reform commitment, build confidence, and attract investment.' The report said real GDP growth was expected to rise to 3.1 percent in FY26 and 3.4 percent in FY27 due to the predicted ongoing macroeconomic stabilization and the implementation of key economic reforms. 'The April 2025 edition, Taxing Times, projects regional growth to slow to 5.8 percent in 2025 — 0.4 percentage points below October projections — before ticking up to 6.1 percent in 2026,' the World Bank said. 'This outlook is subject to heightened risks, including from a highly uncertain global landscape, combined with domestic vulnerabilities including constrained fiscal space.'
Business Recorder
23-04-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Pakistan has one of lowest fixed, mobile broadband speeds
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has one of the lowest average fixed and mobile broadband speeds within the South Asia region, while fixed broadband packages cost 11.1 percent of the average monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita, more than five times above the international affordability benchmark set at two percent, and higher than the regional average. This was revealed in the World Bank report 'Pakistan Development Update, Reimagining a Digital Pakistan', which further noted that Pakistan is one of the three countries in the region where 5G coverage is not available due to limited availability of fiber optic networks, low tower density, and a lack of feasible use cases. The current rate of fixed broadband deployments has plateaued, and estimates indicate that, at this pace, it could take approximately 30 years for Pakistan to reach fixed broadband connectivity levels comparable to those of high-income countries. According to a recent study by the International Finance Corporation, Pakistan lags a benchmark group of countries—Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines—by approximately 5.1 million Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) lines. To close this gap by 50 percent by 2027, an average investment of $2.5 billion in fixed broadband is required. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
