KYOTO, May 5: Pakistan’s economy is likely to meet the government target of 7.0 per cent growth in the fiscal year ending June 30. “There are all indications that we are achieving the target,” Ashfaque Hasan Khan, adviser to Prime Minister Shaukat
Aziz, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Kyoto, western Japan.
He also predicted that foreign investors' confidence in Pakistan will remain solid and said it has not been hurt by a judicial crisis that has rocked the nation for the past two months.
Foreign investors, attracted by the country's solid growth as well as privatisation and other structural reforms, remain upbeat on the economy, Khan said, pointing to the strong performance of Pakistani shares.
The Karachi Stock Exchange benchmark 100-share index hit an all-time high on Friday, shrugging off the latest legal crisis that is regarded as presenting the biggest challenge to President Pervez Musharraf's authority since he came to power in 1999. “This has not dented investors' confidence as people had expected,” Khan said.
“This year we will see a record inflow of foreign investments. It is beyond our expectation,” Khan said, pointing to a net inflow of $5.6 billion during the July-March period.
Of the total, net foreign portfolio investment inflows totalled $1.0 billion, more than double from the same period a year earlier, according to central bank data.
He also said Pakistan will issue sovereign offshore bonds this month and that the issue will be a 144A-type paper -- a clause that makes the securities eligible for purchase and trade by institutional US investors.
Khan said the size and duration of the bonds will be determined after a road-show expected later this month.
