The annual and spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank (WB) are key events for the global economic community.

These meetings, attended by high-level officials such as finance ministers, central bankers from member countries, and decision-makers of other regional lenders, serve as crucial platforms for discussing transnational issues like macroeconomic stability, climate change, and debt sustainability. The discussions that unfold here play a significant role in shaping decision-making processes and strategies for resource mobilization, particularly for developing nations.

The 2024 Spring Meetings, themed 'Vision to Impact,' are not just another event on the calendar. but an important opportunity to translate broad visions and promises into actionable and impactful realities. These discussions, coinciding with the release of global, regional, and country-wise economic updates, are particularly relevant. For Pakistan, these updates are especially pertinent as they shed light on the persistent challenges its economy faces.

The bad news is that according to the latest reports from the IMF, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pakistan’s economy has undergone a significant downturn in the last fiscal year (FY2023), with the real GDP growth rate contracted to negative 0.2 per cent. The agricultural sector’s growth was halved to 2.3 per cent, industry contracted by 3.8 per cent, and services growth nearly stagnated at 0.1 per cent. According to the World Bank and ADB, this decline is a consequence of the combined effect of different factors, including devastating floods, political unrest, and ineffective policy measures, which severely impacted investment, consumption, and production.

Inflation in Pakistan has skyrocketed to a historic peak of 29.2 per cent, driven by supply disruptions, currency depreciation, and dramatic increases in food and energy prices. Notably, food prices, which constitute more than half of the overall price index, saw a staggering rise from about 13 per cent to nearly 40 per cent (before taming down to 29 per cent last month).

Investment has also taken a severe hit, with public investment dropping by 31.6 per cent and private investment by 14.6 per cent, reflecting a grim........

© The News International