Economic outlook improving: survey

KARACHI: Pakistan’s economic outlook is improving after remaining subdued for over a number of challenging years, the latest Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) revealed on Friday. 

“Two main factors that are likely to support growth over the next few years are increased Chinese investment in infrastructure projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and low interest rates,” the survey report said. 

“All the CPEC projects added together are expected to come to $ 62 billion, which is the equivalent of 17 percent of Pakistan’s 2015 GDP.”  The quarterly survey, conducted by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), said Pakistan’s low-inflation driven dovish monetary policy will also boost its growth. 

According to the study, in which top finance professionals including chief financial officers (CFOs) were interviewed, the global economic outlook remains positive, despite a slight drop in confidence, compared to the last couple of years. 

“The number of respondents expecting conditions to worsen exceeds those expecting conditions to improve by 10 percentage points – yielding the second-highest confidence index in two years and better than the average since the survey began,” the report said.