Pakistan, in bailout deal with IMF, sets 4.8% GDP growth target for 2021-22

Pakistan, in talks with the IMF about its $6 billion bailout programme, on Friday set a growth target at 4.8 per cent of GDP for the financial 2021-22 and a fiscal deficit target of 6.3 per cent.
 
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin (pictured) set out the annual budget before parliament, with a total spending outlay of 8.4 trillion rupees ($53.93 billion).
 
Pakistan surpassed growth projections in the current financial year despite suffering a third wave of Coivd-19 infections. GDP growth was clocked provisionally at 3.96 per cent, compared to a target of 2.1 per cent, for FY2020-21.
 
“We want to make sure of a growth rate of 6 per cent to 7 per cent in the next two to three years,” Tarin told parliament.
 
Pakistan’s economy suffered a 0.47 per cent contraction in FY2019/20.

 
Tarin also announced the country would set a target of 5.8 trillion rupees ($37.24 billion) in revenue collection for FY2021/22.
 
Pakistan is currently in talks with the IMF as part of the sixth review of its 39-month bailout programme, which it entered in 2019.  The revenue target has been a key topic in negotiations, and Tarin has said the IMF and Pakistani government debated ways to achieve the target, which is 23 per cent higher than the current year's expected collection.