Finance Ministry releases annual report for the fiscal year

The Finance Ministry has released its economic performance report for the last financial year as Pakistan Tehreek -e- Insaf (PTI) government completed one year.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s annual report Pakistan’s budget deficit widened to 8.9% of gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June, according to data on Tuesday that underlines the severe economic crisis facing the country.

The full-year’s deficit figure was released on the finance ministry website. Revenue during the year ended June 30 equalled 12.7% of GDP, a fall from the previous financial year’s 15.2%.

The deficit size compared with a 7.1% estimate Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government gave in June and with 6.6% during the year that ended in June 2018.

Pakistan, which in July sealed a $6 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, has been struggling to avert a balance of payments crisis and to prevent its debt from spiralling out of control.

The budget for 2019-20, passed in June, approved measures designed to cut the deficit by bringing in o government coffers the equivalent of 1.7% of GDP. Pakistan has promised a multiyear effort to overhaul its tax and budget system to put its weak public finances on a firmer footing.