Tough times ahead
June 2, 2008 THE State Bank of Pakistan's third quarterly report did not make cheery reading. Everything that could go wrong, apparently, is going wrong. First up, the economy is not going to grow as much as was predicted. It is not going to be the 7.2 percent the previous regime assured the public almost exactly a year ago, but somewhere between 5.5 and 6 percent. What was above target was inflation, set to remain a double digit 12 percent. The same is the case on the fiscal front. The current account deficit is set to approach 7.8 percent of the entire GDP. It was supposed to be curtailed to 4 percent according to government stipulations about fiscal responsibility. The trade deficit is also set to be rather high, with $19.9 billion worth of exports against $39 billion worth if imports.
