KARACHI: The country’s economic fundamentals have significantly improved despite severe global and regional shocks, said State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad on Wednesday.

Addressing the annual convocation of the Ins­ti­tute of Cost and Mana­ge­ment Accountants of Pakis­tan, Mr Ahmad said that although challenges still abound, “we have come a long way since 2022”.

“Despite significant supply shocks, we have contained the impact on the domestic economy,” he said, adding that inflation remained close to the target range in FY26.

While it has risen since then, it is projected to gradually ease towards the mid-year FY27 target range (5-7pc), supported by prudent monetary tightening, he said.

He said the external account remains stable, with the current account deficit expected to remain within 0 to 1pc of GDP. Real GDP growth is also recovering gradually, from a contraction in FY23 to 3.7pc in FY26; he expects it to rise further in FY27.

“These improvements in economic fundamentals and the growing resilience in the economy are being recognised by international credit rating agencies, multilateral partners, as well as foreign investors,” he said.

He said that raising the policy rate after keeping it steady for almost a year, together with temporary measures to manage non-debt foreign exchange outflows, was necessary to restore macroeconomic stability and avert a deeper external financing and debt crisis.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2026