ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected Pakistan’s economy to grow at 2.5 percent in 2024.
In its World Economic Outlook report published on Tuesday, the global lender said that inflation in Pakistan will fall from 29.2 percent in 2023 to 23.6 percent in 2024.
The report also projected the unemployment rate in the country to fall from 8.5 percent to 8 percent in the next year. However, the current account deficit will rise from 0.7 percent to 1.8 percent in 2024.
IMF Paints Bleak Picture of Global Economy
Meanwhile, the IMF painted a bleak picture of the world economy but said that it was slowly recovering.
IMF announced that it kept its GDP growth forecast for the international economy constant at 3 percent for 2023 but lowered its expectation for 2024 by 0.1 percentage points to 2.9 percent.
The institute’s growth expectations for the advanced nations were unchanged at 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent for 2023 and 2024, respectively, the IMF said in a report.
Emerging markets’ GDP growth is expected to be at 4 percent for both 2023 and 2024, while the fund’s previous forecast, in July, was at 4.1 percent for 2024.
The euro area is likely to grow 0.7 percent in 2023, down 0.2 percentage points, and 1.2 percent in 2024, down 0.3 points.
Among major eurozone economies, Germany is likely to narrow 0.5 percent this year and grow 0.9 percent next year, while both expectations dropped.
The IMF’s forecasts for the US economy were 2.1 percent this year and 1.5 percent next year, both showing a rise from the previous report.
The Chinese economy is expected to grow 5 percent this year and 4.2 percent in 2024, while these figures were at 2.2 percent and 1.1 percent for Russia, respectively.
The IMF also lowered its forecast for world trade growth volume from 2 percent to 0.9 percent for this year and from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent for the next year.
