ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Tuesday projected Pakistan’s economy to grow by 2.6 percent in the ongoing fiscal year (FY2025/26), lowering its earlier estimate due to the recent monsoon floods that inundated large parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, damaging homes, infrastructure and farmland.
The monsoon season, which began in late July, has claimed at least 1,037 lives in incidents including roof collapses, landslides and flash floods.
Punjab, the country’s agricultural heartland, experienced one of its worst floods in years after neighboring India released excess water into three major rivers, affecting millions of people across the province.
“In Pakistan, real GDP at factor cost is expected to have grown by 2.7 percent year-on-year in FY 2024/25, slightly above FY 2023/24’s 2.5 percent expansion,” the World Bank said in its Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP). “For FY 2025/26, real GDP growth is projected to remain around 2.6 percent, as ongoing catastrophic floods have damped the forecast.”
Earlier this year, the Bank had projected 3.1 percent growth for Pakistan before the monsoon season.
