The World Bank projects that the rate of economic growth in Pakistan will decelerate even further this year, coming in at just two percent. According to the research titled “Global Economic Prospects” published by the World Bank, this will represent a decline of two percentage points from its forecasts made in June of 2022.
“This pace is reflective of still robust growth in India, the Maldives, and Nepal, which is offsetting the effects of the floods in Pakistan as well as the economic and political crises in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The global environment is deteriorating, which will have a negative impact on investment in the region,” the research said, pointing to a “severe, long-lasting recession.” This year’s global GDP is expected to be 1.7%.
Report, which was published by one of the World Bank Group’s most prestigious publications, Pakistan’s economic output was not only falling on its own, but it was also bringing the growth rate of the area down. In spite of the fact that the report projected that Pakistan’s gross domestic product growth rate would increase to 3.2% in 2024, it stated that “Policy uncertainty further complicates the economic outlook” of Pakistan.
The report also cited catastrophic floods in 2022 as another reason for the country’s precarious economic situation as a contributing factor. Floods in Pakistan inundated over one third of the country and had a direct impact on around 15 percent of the population of the country.
The report stated that it is anticipated that the costs associated with recovery and reconstruction will be equivalent to 1.6 times the national development budget for fiscal years 2022-23.
This comes at a time when the cost of food in Pakistan has seen a sharp increase over the course of the previous month.