Pakistan’s economic growth in the financial year ending in June is expected to hit 3.3 per cent, well below the target of 6.3 per cent set by the previous government, as the government has failed to meet targets in nearly all sectors, according to the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey of 2018-19 is scheduled to be officially released a day before the next year’s budget on June 11, but some of its details were published by Dawn news on Saturday. It indicates that livestock is the only sector that grew by 4 per cent against the target of 3.8 per cent.A sharp decline was witnessed in the industrial sector that registered a growth of 1.4 per cent against the target of 7.6 per cent despite the fact that power generation witnessed an increase as several power plants and other power sector projects were completed.The service sector grew by 4.7 per cent against the target of 6.5 per cent, while the construction sector achieved the growth of 7.6 per cent against a 10 per cent target.As the agriculture sector grew by only 0.8 per cent against a 3.8 per cent target, the massive decline was mainly attributed to unfavourable weather conditions. Delays in making key policy decisions by the government, including the one about going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package and those related to the construction and industrial sectors, created confusions among investors, experts believe.
