Economic Survey 2022-23 to be launched today

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Survey 2022-23 is scheduled to be launched today (Thursday) without having the latest official figures on poverty and unemployment rate in Pakistan. Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar will launch the Economic Survey for the outgoing financial year with the feature of one additional chapter on Information Technology (IT) and its impact on Pakistan’s economy. With the looming risk of stagflation in the wake of dismal performance of the provisional GDP growth figure of 0.29 per cent for the outgoing fiscal year and inflation skyrocketing to 38 per cent on a monthly basis, the food inflation is nearing 50 per cent. In such a bleak situation, there will be no official figures incorporated into the upcoming Economic Survey for 2022-23. Some serious questions have been raised over the provisional GDP growth rate figure of 0.29 per cent for the outgoing fiscal year as discrepancies were allegedly found in the estimation of the National Accounts Committee (NAC). This provisional growth figure might turn from a slight positive of 0.29 per cent into negative at the time of revision during the due course of time in the next financial year.