DUBAI – Pakistan’s fragile economy faces yet another setback as theInternational Monetary Fund has further lowered the growth for FY 2018-19.
The International Monetary Fund on Monday lowered its 2019 economic growthforecast for Pakistan by 0.3 percentage points to 2.4 percent.
“Growth in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan regionis expected to remain subdued at 2.4 percent in 2019 before recovering toabout 3 percent in 2020,” the global lender said in its World EconomicOutlook update for January.
“Multiple factors weigh on the region’s outlook, including weak oil outputgrowth, which offsets an expected pickup in non-oil activity (SaudiArabia); tightening financing conditions (Pakistan); US sanctions (Iran);and, across several economies, geopolitical tensions.”
The IMF lowered its projection for Saudi Arabia´s gross domestic productgrowth this year to 1.8 percent, down from 2.4 percent in its Octoberreport. However, it raised its forecast for next year by 0.2 percentagepoints, to 2.1 percent..








