Post budget presser: 3.5% GDP growth target “realistic & easy achievable”, says Dar

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed confidence that the government would easily achieve the 3.5 percent growth target of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) set for the upcoming fiscal year with effective and transparent utilization of massive development funds it allocated for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2023-24).

“I believe if we rightly implemented the PSDP and invested with complete transparency, the GDP growth from 0.29% to 3.5% will be easily achievable. We have set a very modest target and I am very much sure if PSDP funds are invested judiciously, you will find perhaps the 3.5% growth at the lower side,” he said while addressing the post-budget news conference.

He said the government allocated a historic size of Rs1150 billion development funds under the PSDP, which was almost double than the funds of Rs567 billion utilized in 2022-23.

In 2017-18, Ishaq Dar said he had presented over Rs1 trillion PSDP budget that was a record-high at that time, while for the year 2023-24 a ‘new-high’ size of the development funds amounting to Rs1150 billion had been earmarked to achieve the required goals of national development and put the economy on a consistent growth trajectory.

He said the GDP growth target was not ‘unrealistic,’ adding the international financial and rating institutions always remained conservative as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) projected the growth at 2 percent, International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself announced the target of 3.5 per cent, Bloomberg and Fitch rated at 4 percent while Standard and Poor (S&P) calculated at 2-2.5 percent.

“As per our professional calculation, it (3.5% GDP growth target) is doable by the grace of Allah Almighty,” the finance minister said confidently.