ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has projected 3.8% economic growth rate and 3.5% fiscal deficit in Pakistan during the current financial year 2026-27.
The World Bank in its Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region report said that nearly half of the Middle East and North African region’s poor people (48%) earning less than $3 a day, live in Pakistan and poverty in the country increased due to prolonged economic adjustment that weakened real household incomes and employment opportunities.
“Pakistan accounts for about 48% of the people in the region living below the $3 per day (about Rs840 daily income) poverty line”, according to the report that the lender released on Tuesday evening.
The regional increase in poverty following a succession of adverse shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating 2022 floods, a macroeconomic crisis marked by high inflation and currency depreciation, and a prolonged period of economic adjustment that weakened real household incomes and employment opportunities,” according to report.
The report stated that the remaining poor people were concentrated in Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen the three war-affected countries, which together accounted for another 47% of people living below the poverty line of $3 per day income.
The latest World Bank Group estimates showed that the region accounts for 14% of the world’s extreme poor, second only to Sub-Saharan Africa. After declining substantially during the 2000s and 2010s, poverty reduction stalled around 2019 and reversed following the COVID-19 pandemic.
