KARACHI: The services sector recorded a robust growth of 6.43 per cent in last two years – a major impetus along with the agriculture sector which grew by 3.81pc for achieving higher GDP growth of 5.8pc during 2017-18.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18, the most important achievements of the fiscal include the fastest pace in real GDP growth on the back of strong growth in agriculture, impressive growth in manufacturing as well as in services.

The government’s vision remained focused on the diversification of trade and exports to include new products and services and partners, increased involvement in global value chains. As a result, growth momentum remained above 5pc for the last two years in a row and reached 5.79pc in FY2018 which is 13 years high on account of a strong performance in agriculture, industry and services sectors which grew by 3.81, 5.80 and 6.43pc, respectively.

The public sector expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP was estimated 2.2pc in FY2017 compared to 2.3pc of GDP in FY2016. The education related expenditure increased by 5.4pc to Rs699.2 billion in FY2017 from Rs663.4bn in FY2016.

On health services sector cumulative expenditures of federal and the provinces are estimated at Rs384.57bn for FY2017-18 which is 31.75pc higher than the actual expenditures of Rs291.90bn realised during FY2016-17.

The transport and communication sector is currently having 72 on-going development portfolios run by National Highway Authority (NHA) with an allocation of Rs305,020.34 million in PSDP 2017-18, out of which Rs86,150.00m as foreign currency and Rs218,870.337m as local component.

During July-Dec 2017-18, gross earnings of Pakistan Railways along with number of passenger carried, freight carried and freight tonnes earning has improved by 26.7pc, 4.7pc, 55.8pc and 62.1pc respectively, over the corresponding period of last year.

Similarly, a new strategic business plan 2018-22 has been developed by PIAC, which provides a five-year roadmap for improving the national carrier’s performance.

During first half of on-going fiscal year Pakistan National Shipping Corporation earned profit before tax Rs902m, while Karachi Port Trust shows a progress of 5.1pc with the breakup of export and imports of 14.9pc and 1.6pc respectively, as compared to corresponding period of last year.

Port Qasim handled a total volume of 21.367m tonnes during the first half of fiscal year 2017-18 (July-Dec), showing a substantial increase of 24.5pc over the 17.165m tonnes recorded in the same period a year before.

Telecom sector invested a significant amount of $322.9m during first two quarters of FY2017-18. Revenues from telecom sector reached to Rs235.5bn during the same period.

Pakistan Post earned Rs10.860m during the period from April to December 2017 through commission and disbursement/recovery of First Micro Finance Bank Loan.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018