ISLAMABAD, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, said here on Monday that Pakistan’s economic recovery, which began after Fiscal Year 2023, gained momentum in FY 2024 and showed signs of consolidation in FY 2025, indicating a shift towards sustained stability and GDP growth.
Addressing a press conference at the launching ceremony of Economic Survey of Pakistan 2024-25, the minister said that during the last two years, the economy navigated a complex and challenging environment characterized by multiple global crises and a broader domestic economic slowdown.

Elaborating the details, the minister said, in FY2023, the economy was struggling to stabilize amid a confluence of domestic and global economic shocks and when the incumbent government assumed office in March 2024, the economy was grappling with multiple challenges.

The challenges included decline in GDP growth (-0.2% in FY2023); contraction in industrial activity (-3.9%); high inflation 29.2%, massive PKR depreciation (28.5%); and policy rate increase up to 22%.
In addition, the challenges also included squeezing fiscal space – higher fiscal deficit (7.8% of GDP); high public debt at (75% of GDP); depletion of Forex reserves ($6.3 bn in FY2023), and rising financing needs of around $25 billion in FY2024, putting the external sector under pressure.
“To cope with these challenges, the government embarked on a journey towards stability and sustainable, inclusive growth through various structural and policy adjustments,” the minister remarked.

He said, the government successfully completed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Standby Arrangement (SBA) program with a focus on fiscal consolidation, gradual withdrawal of import restrictions, market-determined exchange rates, energy, SOEs, and governance reforms.