ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government hopes to achieve six percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth this fiscal year owing to increased expansion in industrial and agricultural sectors, the finance ministry said on Sunday. 

Pakistan’s finance ministry set a 4.8 percent GDP growth rate as its target for the fiscal year 2021-22 in the annual budget in May last year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said earlier this month Pakistan’s economy is set to keep on recovering in this fiscal year, with real GDP growth projected at 4 percent. 

“Looking at all the recent economic indicators including industrial and agricultural growth, we are sure to achieve a six percent GDP growth rate this fiscal year,” Muzzammil Aslam, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, told Arab News. 

He said electricity generation and consumption had registered an increase of 9 percent which reflected increased industrialization, manufacturing and employment in the country. 

Citing the numbers, he said Pakistan had witnessed 7.4 percent industrial growth while the South Asian country’s exports were growing at a pace of 25 percent this fiscal year along with a rise in electricity consumption. 

“These all are data proofs to show robust economic growth due to the government’s business and industry-friendly policies,” he said. 

“Cotton and sugarcane crops have registered a significant production increase this year, and this all is contributing to industrial growth and jobs creation [in the country],” he said. 

In January, Pakistan revised its economic growth rate for 2020-21 to 5.37 percent from 3.9 percent after the country's statistics bureau shifted its economy's baseline. 

With the new 2015-16 baseline, the country’s total GDP has reached $346.76 billion with a per capita income of $1,666. 

Economists say the government should focus on “sustainable growth” while keeping all challenges in the mind. 

“We have increased our interest rate and cut imports after December as part of a deal with the IMF, so this economic contraction will hold back our GDP growth to around 5 percent,” AA H. Soomro, a Karachi-based senior economist, told Arab News. 

He said the government will also spend less through the annual Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) to fulfill IMF conditions while wheat production was also expected to get a hit due to a shortage of fertilizers. 

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is also causing oil prices to surge in the international market and if this continues for the next three to four weeks, it will significantly increase Pakistan’s current account deficit, Soomro warned. 

“Keep in mind all these challenges, it will be a success even if Pakistan achieves a five percent GDP growth rate in this fiscal year,” the economist added.