With recession, job loss and organisations winding up their operations, 2019 has been terrible for the Indian economy. While the Indian GDP growth rate for the second quarter dropped to its lowest in six years, Pakistan’s economy witnessed some surge.
United States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells welcomed this development in Pakistan’s outlook by credit rating agency Moody’s. Wells, in a tweet issued on behalf of her by the US State Department, tweeted – “With bold economic reforms, Pakistan can boost growth, attract private capital, and expand exports.”
Pleased to see that @MoodysInvSvc has revised Pakistan’s credit outlook to stable thanks to @FinMinistryPak’s reform efforts and IMF program. With bold economic reforms, Pakistan can boost growth, attract private capital, and expand exports. AGW
— State_SCA (@State_SCA) December 3, 2019
Wells credited the improvements due to the reforms undertaken by the finance ministry and the recent International Monetary Fund programme implemented by the country. Moody’s Investors Services on Monday had changed Pakistan’s outlook from ‘Negative’ to ‘Stable’.
It announced bumping Pakistan’s outlook rating in a report and affirmed a B3 rating for the country and confirming that the economy’s future looks stable as opposed to negative earlier.
The credit rating agency said it had positively revised the outlook in light of further improvement in Pakistan’s balance of payments. Although the foreign exchange reserves were still low and that it would take time for the figure to rise, it said the policy adjustment and free-floating — or flexible — exchange rate would help enhance the balance of payments.
On the contrary, Gross Domestic Product figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) confirmed that India’s GDP for the second quarter of the financial year 2019 (Jul-Sep 19) was 4.5 – lowest since 2012-13.
With consecutive slumps for six quarters, the expectations of almost all major financial institutions and rating agencies for India’s GDP growth have also come down.
