GDP growth to
pick up to 7% says WB
WASHINGTON—South Asia has witnessed a strong economic growth and
Pakistan’s GDP is expected to pick up to a robust 7 per cent in the
year, according to a new World Bank report.
The report “Global Economic Prospects — Managing the Next Wave of
Globalization” was released Thursday. Expansion in agricultural
production and increased capacity following government infrastructure
investments and private sector investments in the textile sector are
some of the factors bolstering the economic growth in Pakistan in the
current year.
In 2006, the report says the GDP in South Asia is estimated to have
expanded at a very rapid pace of 8.2 per cent. Progress in promoting
private sectorled growth, improved macro-management, greater
integration with the global economy strong remittance inflows and strong
external demand contributed to high growth in South Asia. The GDP in
South Asia is projected to be 7.5% in 2007 and 7% in 2008. The Bank said
globalization could spur faster growth in average incomes in the next 25
years than during 1980-2005, with developing countries playing a central
role.
According to the report’s lead author and Economic Advisor in the Trade
Department, Richard Newfarmer, developing country growth in the world
has accelerated over the past decade and is expected to remain strong
both over the medium and longer terms. “We expect that growth rates for
developing countries this year will be 7 percent and exceed 6 percent in
2007 and 2008, more than twice as fast as high-income countries, which
are expected to grow about 2.6 percent.”says Hans Timmer, the manager of
the Bank’s forecasting team.
Newfarmer says developing economies will become a major locomotive of
the global economy. “We expect developing economies share in world trade
to rise to almost 50 percent by 2030,” he says. “That’s a substantial
increase from where we are today at about 30 percent. Moreover, their
share in world GDP could reach 60 percent in purchasing power parity
terms.”
The report says benefits of that growth will be widespread, with the
incidence of dire poverty falling from around 25 percent today to less
than eight percent. However the report also says some groups may be left
behind, with unskilled workers especially vulnerable. The report
predicts that globalization will expand the global economy from US
dollars 35 trillion in 2005 to US dollars 72 trillion in 2030.—APP |
