According to the World Bank data, Pakistan outperformed all regional economies during the 2020-2022 COVID period, with the lowest unemployment rate in the South Asia region at 4.3% compared to India 8%, Bangladesh 5.4% and Sri Lanka 5.9%.
Ministers of the present government have been claiming the current protest of the opposition against the government is just for the reason that the government has taken the right steps to streamline the economy of the country and it is most likely that national economy will move in the right direction if this year passes successfully.
The Ministers are of the view that this is the only fear in the minds of opposition leaders. On the other side, the opposition has been constantly claiming that the economy of Pakistan has been full ruined, and this is the time to change the government otherwise things would go out of control. Responding to the allegations of the opposition, the Finance Division has issued a statement on Wednesday, explaining the economic condition of the country.
Read more: GDP growth to exceed 5 percent mark in fiscal year 2021-22
The Statement of Finance Division says, “Pakistan’s economy is also facing inflation headwinds due to record high international energy and food prices. However, in line with the government’s vision of a social welfare state, it has provided unprecedented relief to the masses by lowering prices of petrol, diesel, and electricity.”
As per the statement, the latest episode of the opposition is an attempt to cripple the economy at a time when it is showing recovery from the Covid-19 shock which was termed as the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression by the IMF.
Citing World Bank data, it stated that Pakistan outperformed all regional economies during 2020-2022, with the lowest unemployment rate in the South Asia region at 4.3% compared to India’s 8%, Bangladesh’s 5.4% and Sri Lanka’s 5.9%.
Government through the statement claims that the economic growth which was witnessed at 0.5 percent during Covid-19 reached at the rate of 5.4 percent in the next year whereas the economies of some countries like India showed the negative growth rate of 7.3 percent, Gulf states’ economic growth rate contracted by 5 percent and the economies of the USA and European Union also contracted by 4 percent and 8 percent respectively.
