Pakistan missed the economic growth target for the current financial year by a wide margin as its GDP grew by 4.7 per cent against the target of 5.5 per cent, a media report said today.
The target was missed mainly because of dismal performance by the agriculture sector, which is the mainstay of economy.
At a meeting of the national accounts committee comprising senior representatives from the four provinces and regions and technical experts yesterday, the performance of all economic sectors was added up that showed higher than targeted growth by the industrial sector, Dawn reported.
The services sector achieved its growth target of 5.7 per cent.
"But the most worrying aspect of the year was a 0.19 per cent negative growth by agriculture as a whole against the target of 3.9 per cent," it reported.
Cotton output led the freefall in the agriculture sector, considered the backbone of the national economy, as it posted a negative growth of 27 per cent.
The cotton output stood at 10.1 million bales against the target of 13.96 million bales. Last year, its output stood at 13.9 million bales with a 9.5 per cent growth.
The industrial sector, favoured by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, booms as the agriculture sector suffers in the current financial year. As a result, cotton ginning declined by 21 per cent against the target of 5 per cent.
Important crops output fell by 7.18 per cent against the target of 3.2 per cent, while other crops fell by 6.2 per cent against the target of 4.5 per cent. The livestock sector grew by 3.63 per cent, but remained short of the 4.1 per cent target, while fisheries increased by 3.3 per cent, surpassing the 3 per cent target.
Forestry was the only saving grace in the agriculture sector as it grew by 8.8 per cent against the target of 4 per cent.
On an overall basis, industry grew by 6.8 per cent against the target of 6.4 per cent.
The mining and quarrying sector grew by 6.8 per cent against the target of 6 per cent, but the overall manufacturing sector could not meet growth expectations.
The manufacturing sector posted a growth of 5 per cent, but remained short of the 6.1 per cent target. It had grown by 3.2 per cent last year.
