Islamabad, Apr. 10 (ANI): The Asian Development Bank has painted an extremely bleak picture of Pakistan”s “directionless” economy, saying that immediate recovery chances are almost nil amid a worsening balance of payments position. The Manila-based lending agency warned that Pakistan”s current growth model is unsustainable and that it also undermines future prospects. The ADB statement comes amid deep-rooted concerns over a “directionless” economy due to failure of the previous government and inability of the caretaker setup to take immediate meaningful steps, reports The Express Tribune. The ADB”s fears about policy inaction are becoming true as caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has not been able to appoint a finance minister and no concrete measures have been taken on the economic front. Highlighting flaws in the growth model, the ADB said private consumption expenditure expanded by 11.6 percent in the last fiscal year that provided nearly all GDP growth. The consumption benefited from rising remittances and government salary increases. The shift to consumption-based growth was because of a constant fall in fixed investment that fell for the fourth year in a row to 10.9 percent of GDP, the lowest since 1974 and the lowest among major Asian countries, the ADB said. According to the ADB, last year was the fifth consecutive year of low growth, falling investment, excessive fiscal deficits, high inflation and a deteriorating external position that weighed heavily on the economy. (ANI)
