KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari is due to meet his country’s main backers, including US President Barack Obama, at a “Friends of Pakistan” meeting in New York on Thursday.

Here are some facts about Pakistan’s economy.
 
* Pakistan is being propped up with a $7.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over two years agreed in November. The IMF increased the loan by $3.2 billion last month.

* Growth slid to two per cent in 2008/09, barely outpacing population growth. The government expects growth of 3.3 per cent this fiscal year, to the end of June 2010. The Asian Development Bank this week forecast growth of two per cent in 2009 rising to three per cent in 2010.
 
* Allies pledged $5.7 billion in aid to Pakistan at a donors conference in Tokyo in April but only a fraction of that has trickled in, with donors wanting more details of how the money will be spent and questions over how well the fragile civilian government is functioning.
 
* The IMF has urged donors to follow through on aid promised.
 
* Some of the promised aid was meant to help provide a social security net and its absence had made it tougher for the government to implement spending on infrastructure, to reduce poverty and to help people displaced by fighting against militants, the IMF says.
 
* One ramification of the shortfall was that the government has had to borrow from the banking system which has meant less funds were available for the private sector, it said.
 
* The economy has shown signs of stabilising. Inflation in August eased to 10.69 per cent, its lowest in 20 months, while the current account deficit in the first two months of the 2009/10 fiscal year was $527 million, compared with a deficit of $2.68 billion in the same period last year.
 
* Foreign exchange reserves have risen to $14.36 billion compared with $6.6 billion in November of last year with remittances rising 31.78 per cent to a record $780.53 million.
 
* The main Karachi Stock Exchange index has gained 60.9 per cent this year after losing 58.3 per cent in 2008. The rupee, which fell 22.12 per cent against the dollar in 2008, has lost 4.6 per cent this year.
 
* Revenue collection is weak and much of the tax burden falls disproportionally on the manufacturing sector and a small group of salary earners. The IMF has been urging the government to boost tax revenue and to implement quickly plans for a value added tax and to broaden tax administration reforms.
 
* The Asian Development bank has called for effective measures to build a much larger export base that is sufficient to finance oil, machinery and other essential imports.
 
* Problems in the energy sector, with demand outstripping generating capacity, are undermining growth potential and are a major burden on public finances. The IMF wants measures to help improve finances of the electricity sector through increases in prices. — Reuters