Pakistan’s economic outlook improves

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad has emphasised that the country’s economic outlook has got better, following improvement in macroeconomic indicators, caused by measures taken by the government and central bank.

In his message read out by Executive Director Muhammad Haroon Rasheed at Independence Day celebrations at the SBP, the governor pointed out that inflation had significantly decreased to 11.1% in July 2024, down from 28.3% in July 2023.

Highlighting the country’s previous struggle with macroeconomic indicators, he noted that the current account deficit had widened to $17.48 billion in fiscal year 2021-22, which contracted to $3.2 billion in FY23 and further reduced to $0.68 billion in FY24.

In addition, foreign remittances increased to $30.25 billion in FY24 from $27.33 billion in FY23.

The SBP governor said foreign currency reserves had improved, rising to $9.3 billion despite ongoing debt repayments.

Furthermore, there have been no import restrictions and IT exports have risen significantly.