Country’s GNP rises to Rs49.4tr

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Gross National Product (GNP) has gone up to Rs49.4 trillion, registering an upsurge by 6.5 per cent during the outgoing fiscal year 2020-21, which is the second-highest growth since 2004-5.

The country’s GNP had achieved the highest growth of 7.1 per cent in the fiscal year 2004-5 under the Musharraf-Aziz regime. However, as a matter of concern, the investment to GDP ratio has declined in Pakistan, as it has gone down from 15.5 per cent to 15.2 per cent of GDP in the outgoing fiscal year. The investment to GDP ratio had stood at 17.3 per cent in 2017-18 under the PML-N government but it declined to 15.6 per cent in 2018-19, 15.4 per cent in 2019-20 and now 15.2 per cent in 2020-21. But savings to GDP ratio improved from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent of GDP in the outgoing fiscal year.

In 2004-5, Pakistan’s GDP growth had clinched nine per cent GDP growth the highest ever in last two decades so GNP also went up that was so far the highest in the last two decades. According to official data available with The News, the size of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has climbed to Rs44.9 trillion on the basis of factor cost in outgoing fiscal year while on the basis of market price GDP size has gone up to Rs47.4 trillion.

The country’s GNP is defined as total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country consisting of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plus factor incomes earned by foreign residents.

Pakistan’s GNP at factor cost has stood at Rs49.4 trillion while on the basis of the market price it has gone up to Rs52.5 trillion. In the last fiscal year when the GDP growth had contracted to negative 0.47 per cent in 2019-20, Pakistan’s GNP remained positive by registering a growth of 1.2 per cent.

Remittances play vital role in estimating the country’s GNP after calculating the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). So far, remittances have fetched $24.246 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year and the government is projecting that it might go close to $29 billion mark till June 30, 2021. The government is projecting over $30 billion in remittances in the coming budget 2021-22 so it will be the highest ever remittance in the country’s history.

According to an analysis of the performance of different governments in the last 13 years to ascertain drivers of GDP growth and Gross National Income also known as GNI or GNP, private consumption had stood at 2.7 per cent during the PPP government from 2008 to 2013 and the average GDP growth remained to hover around 2.8 per cent of GDP while GNP grew by an average of 3.3 per cent.

During the five years period from 2008 to 2013 under the PML-N dispensation, the private consumption had stood at 6.2 per cent and average GDP growth remained 4.7 per cent on an average while GNP clinched five per cent growth.

From 2018 to 2021 under the PTI government, private consumption stood at 2.1 per cent on an average while GDP growth on an average remained 1.9 per cent while GNP grew by 3.7 per cent on an average in last three years.

Pakistan’s per capita income had stood at $1,368 in 2012-13 when the PPP accomplished its five-year term and the PML-N increased per capita income in dollar terms to $1,641 in 2017-18.

The per capita income under the PTI-led regime stood at $1,543 in the outgoing fiscal year 2020-21. The GDP size that had gone up to $313 billion under the PML-N government declined under the PTI’s in the first two years but in the third year it went up from $264 billion to $296 billion.