The research projects Pakistan’s real GDP to have grown to $12.7 trillion and its GDP per capita to $27,100…reports Asian Lite News
A research paper published by Goldman Sachs projected Pakistan to be the sixth largest economy in the world by 2075 given that “appropriate policies and institutions” are in place, local media reported.
Authored by economists Kevin Daly and Tadas Gedminas and titled The Path to 2075′, the paper projected that the five largest economies by 2075 will be China, India, the US, Indonesia and Nigeria, Dawn reported.
Goldman Sachs has been projecting long-term growth of countries for almost two decades now, initially starting out with BRICs economies, but for the past 10 years, it has expanded those projections to cover 70 emerging and developed economies.
Their latest paper covers 104 countries with projections going as far as 2075.
Pakistan’s star future status is predicted on the back of its population growth, which along with Egypt and Nigeria, could place it among the largest economies in the world in the next 50 years, according to Goldman Sachs, Dawn reported.
By that time, the research projects Pakistan’s real GDP to have grown to $12.7 trillion and its GDP per capita to $27,100.
These numbers, however, are projected to be less than a third of the size of China, India and the US. India’s real GDP in 2075 is projected at $52.5 trillion and per capita GDP at $31,300.
Among key risks to their projections, the economists particularly highlighted “environmental catastrophe” and “populist nationalism”.
Pak concedes to China’s demand
Pakistan has caved in to Chinas demand for opening a revolving bank account that would partially save Chinese power plants from circular debt, but it may cause concern among officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a media report.
It also allowed import of 580,000 tonnes of wheat at a price of $372 per tonne, excluding the incidental and transportation charges, which would cost the national exchequer a minimum of $216 million, Express Tribune reported.
Wheat import will cost a total of $224 million after including the incidental charges.
The decisions were taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet that stamped a second government-to-government wheat contract with a Russian state-owned supplier. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the ECC meeting.
“The ECC approved a proposal of the finance ministry to change the title of the revolving fund account for CPEC independent power producers (IPPs) from Pakistan Energy Revolving Fund to Pakistan Energy Revolving Account,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.
The Finance Ministry informed the ECC that the title of the fund had been reviewed to bring it in conformity with the original CPEC agreement dated November 8, 2014.
Pakistan took eight years to implement the important clause and the delay not only caused friction in relations with China, but also led to over $1 billion being stuck in arrears for Chinese companies, Express Tribune reported.
However, the move may irritate the IMF that on the insistence of its largest shareholder – the United States – is pressing Pakistan against giving any preferential treatment to the Chinese companies. But having good relations with China has once again become critical after the government has not been able to satisfy the IMF.
The delay in the start of ninth review talks with the IMF has again triggered a debate on the possibility of default, which Dar has strongly denied.
