ISLAMABAD: Pakistan lowered its GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, to 0.29 percent from 2 percent, the country's national accounts committee said in a statement, as a slowdown in the agriculture and industrial sectors curbed growth.
Gripped by economic turmoil and suffering a balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is trying to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to disburse the stalled final $1.1 billion from a $6.5 billion bailout agreed in 2019.
Pakistan's central bank said on Friday that GDP growth was likely to remain significantly lower for the financial year 2022-23 than the previous year when growth was revised up to 6.1 percent.
The committee corrected its previous year's GDP growth numbers, which a spokesperson said was a typographical error.
The country posted highest ever inflation at 36.4 percent in April and its currency has depreciated to a historic low.
The national accounts committee's latest GDP growth forecast is lower than the World Bank's estimate of 0.4 percent, while the IMF said in April that the growth would be 0.5 percent.
A government official amended the rate for 2021-22 growth to Reuters in Islamabad.
