Pak minister blames India, without proof, on IMF tranche issue even as its economy misses crop production, GDP targets

Pakistan has failed in achieving key economic targets, but its finance minister used the occasion to discuss the dire state of affairs to blame India in the context of its recent bailout package tranche from IMF. The economic survey of Pakistan revealed some shocking numbers, which give an indication of how badly the South Asian nation has been performing. But instead of facing reality, the Pakistani Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb found time to blame, without proof, an unnamed 'Indian executive director' of IMF for trying to ‘block’ the IMF package.

But first, here is a look at the economic situation, as revealed in the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25 unveiled by Aurgangzeb on Monday (June 9).

Pakistan misses GDP target, crop production down

The key aspect of the economic survey was the GDP failing to meet the target. Pakistan's GDP growth stood at 2.68 per cent, far below the target of 3.56 per cent.

Though slightly better than the previous year, the GDP growth was less than the country's five-year average of 3.3 per cent, and long-term average of over 4.5 per cent.

Pakistan minister takes global economy as alibi as most targets missed

While explaining the poor performance of the economy, Aurangzeb cited global economic headwinds.

Almost all key economic targets were missed. On the crop production, the shortfall was blamed on a 35 per cent water shortage, revised down to 11-12 per cent.

Both industries and services underperformed, failing to meet targets despite moderate growth.

The country's large-scale manufacturing continued to struggle for the third straight year.

Yet, the Pakistani finance minister put up a brave front, calling it a gradual recovery even as he promised a turnaround next year.

Crop production down

One glaring aspect in Pakistan's economic survey was the fall in crop production. Major crop production was down 13.5 per cent. The survey blamed it on a 'water crisis'.

The survey showed that wheat, cotton, and maize production went down by 13.5 per cent, while cotton ginning fell by 19 per cent.

Blaming 'Indian IMF executive director'

But what stuck out like a sore thumb in the finance minister's presentation of the survey was the unfounded allegations targeting India, indirectly blaming it for its internal economic mismanagement.

He was speaking in the context of the recent $1 billion tranche released by the IMF.

Without offering any proof, or naming anyone, Aurangzeb claimed that 'the Indian executive director at the IMF' tried to keep Pakistan bailout discussion off the agenda of the IMF board.

He claimed that the Indian official tried to block the second instalment of the bailout package, as well as another $1.4 billion Resilience and Sustainability Facility for Pakistan's climate crisis financing.