Stock Exchange. - AP Photo

Karachi: According to the Ministry of Finance, Pakistan's fiscal deficit, for the first three months of the fiscal year ending June 2012, was 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product.

A Finance Ministry official had said in October that the fiscal deficit for the quarter ended September 30 was a provisional 1.1 percent. Pakistan expects to contain the deficit for the current fiscal year to 4 percent of the GDP, however most analysts expect Pakistan to miss the specified target.

The government's deficit for the 2010-11 year which ended in June, was 6.6 percent of GDP, above earlier estimates of 5.3 percent. Massive energy subsidies were one of the reasons for the swelling deficit, which were not curtailed by the government as per IMF’s demands.