Economy of Pakistan

First five decades

Pakistan was a middle class and predominantly agricultural country when it gained independence in 1947. Pakistan's average economic growth rate in the first five decades (1947–1997) has been higher than the growth rate of the world economy during the same period. Average annual real GDP growth rates^[53] were 6.8% in the 1960s, 4.8% in the 1970s, and 6.5% in the 1980s. Average annual growth fell to 4.6% in the 1990s with significantly lower growth in the second half of that decade.^[54]

Economic resilience

GDP Rate of Growth 2012-2018

Macroeconomic reform and prospects

National Highways, Motorways & Strategic Roads of Pakistan.

According to many sources, the Pakistani government has made substantial economic reforms since 2000,^[56] and medium-term prospects for job creation and poverty reduction are the best in nearly a decade.

In 2005, the World Bank reported that

"Pakistan was the top reformer in the region and the number 10 reformer globally – making it easier to start a business, reducing the cost to register property, increasing penalties for violating corporate governance rules, and replacing a requirement to license every shipment with two-year duration licences for traders."^[57]

Gross domestic product (GDP)

Index	List	FY 2000	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018
1	GDP at mp (Billion Rupees)[60]	4,243.4	6,203.7	7,126.2	8,216.2	9,239.8	10,637.8	13,199.7	14,867.0	18,276.4	20,046.5	22,385.7	25,168.8	27,443.0	29,075.6	31,962.6	34,396.5
2	US Dollars, last day average exchange rates[61]		58.1722 (30 Jun)	59.6921 (30 Jun)	60.2138 (30 Jun)	60.4060 (30 Jun)	68.2808 (30 Jun)	81.3896 (30 Jun)	85.4634 (30 Jun)	85.9894 (30 Jun)	94.627 (30 Jun)	99.1141 (30 Jun)	98.8088 (30 Jun)	101.7895 (30 Jun)	104.7619 (30 Jun)	104.8861 (30 Jun)	109.8480 (Avg. Ann)
3	Nominal GDP (billion US dollars)		106.6	119.4	136.5	153.0	155.8	162.2	174.0	212.5	211.8	225.9	254.7	269.6	277.5	304.7	313.1
4	GDP at bp (Billion Rupees)[62]	5,630.7	6,797.9	7,309.1	7,715.8	8,143.0	8,549.1	8,580.0	8,801.4	9,120.3	9,470.3	9,819.1	10,217.1	10,631.6	11,116.8	11,714.1	12,392.6
5	Real GDP growth rate  [63]	3.91%	7.70%	7.52%	5.56%	5.54%	4.99%	0.36%	2.58%	3.62%	3.84%	3.68%	4.05%	4.06%	4.56%	5.37%	5.79%

Industrial sector

	List	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
6	Industrial sector growth rate  [64][65]	17.37%	6.51%	3.63%	7.73%	8.47%	-5.21%	3.42%	4.51%	2.55%	0.75%	4.53%	5.18%	5.69%	5.43%	5.80%
6A	Mining and Quarrying sector growth rate  [64][65]	21.78%	-15.83%	3.60%	7.35%	3.15%	-2.46%	2.75%	-4.42%	5.16%	3.88%	1.40%	4.97%	6.19%	-0.38%	3.04%
6B	Manufacturing sector growth rate  [64][65]	16.38%	16.03%	9.39%	9.03%	6.10%	-4.18%	1.37%	2.50%	2.08%	4.85%	5.65%	3.88%	3.69%	5.82%	6.24%
6B(i)	Large Scale Manufacturing growth rate  [64][65]	18.83%	18.12%	9.92%	9.58%	6.10%	-6.04%	0.41%	1.66%	1.13%	4.46%	5.46%	3.28%	2.98%	5.62%	6.13%
6B(ii)	Small Scale Manufacturing growth rate  [64][65]	7.51%	7.51%	8.70%	8.25%	8.34%	8.57%	8.47%	8.51%	8.35%	8.28%	8.29%	8.21%	8.19%	8.15%	8.18%
6C	Slaughtering sector growth rate  [64][65]	3.94%	4.00%	4.05%	3.16%	3.26%	3.82%	3.16%	3.67%	3.53%	3.63%	3.38%	3.34%	3.61%	3.55%	3.52%

Agricultural sector

Index	List	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
7	Agriculture sector growth rate  [66][67]	2.85%	7.02%	1.27%	3.42%	1.81%	3.50%	0.23%	1.96%	3.62%	2.68%	2.50%	2.13%	0.15%	2.07%	3.81%
7(a)	Wheat production (million tons)  [6][67]	19.5	21.6	21.3	23.3	20.9	24.0	23.3	25.2	23.5	24.2	26.0	25.1	25.6	26.7	25.5
7(b)	Rice production (million tons)  [6][67]	4.8	5.0	5.5	5.4	5.6	6.9	6.9	4.8	6.2	5.6	6.8	7.0	6.8	6.8	7.4
7(c)	Sugarcane production (million tons)  [6][67]	53.4	47.2	44.7	54.7	63.9	50.0	49.4	55.3	58.4	63.8	67.5	62.8	65.5	75.5	81.1
7(d)	Cotton production (million bales)  [6][67]	10.0	14.3	13.0	12.9	11.7	11.8	12.9	11.5	13.6	13.0	12.8	14.0	9.9	10.7	11.9

Commodity producing sector growth rate

Index	List	2000s	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
8	Commodity producing sector growth rate  [63]	3.02%	9.23%	6.78%	2.38%	5.48%	5.05%	-0.88%	1.76%	3.21%	3.09%	1.73%	3.49%	3.63%	2.92%	3.79%	4.84%

Service sector

Index	List	2000s	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
9	Service sector growth rate  [63]	4.79%	6.45%	8.14%	8.20%	5.58%	4.94%	1.33%	3.21%	3.94%	4.40%	5.13%	4.46%	4.36%	5.72%	6.46%	6.43%

Per capita income

Index	List	2000s	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
10	Per capita income (US dollars)  [28]	746.0	663.2	724.1	897.4	979.9	1053.2	1026.1	1072.4	1274.1	1320.5	1333.7	1388.8	1514.0	1530.8	1632.1	1640.5

Inflation

Index	List	2000s	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
11	Consumer price index growth rate  [28]	7.3%	4.6%	9.3%	7.9%	7.8%	12.0%	17.0%	10.1%	13.7%	11.0%	7.4%	8.6%	4.5%	2.9%	4.2%	3.8%

Government revenues and expenditures

Index	List	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018
12	Government total revenues (billion rupees)  [68][69][70][71][72]	794.1	900.0	1076.6	1298.0	1499.4	1850.9	2077.8	2252.9	2566.5	2982.4	3637.3	3931.0	4447.0	4936.7	5228.0
12-a	Total tax revenue (billion rupees)  [68][69][70][71][72]	550.1	632.6	753.0	919.3	1065.2	1316.7	1472.5	1699.3	2052.9	2199.2	2564.5	3017.6	3660.4	3969.2	4467.2
12-a-i	FBR tax collection (billion rupees)  [73]	-	-	-	-	1008.1	1161.2	1327.4	1558.0	1882.7	1946.4	2254.5	2590.0	3112.5	3367.9	3842.1
13	Government total expenditures (billion rupees)  [68][69][70][71][72]	923.6	1117.0	1401.8	1675.5	2276.5	2531.3	3007.2	3447.3	3936.2	4816.3	5026.0	5387.8	5796.3	6800.5	7488.4
14	Fiscal deficit (billion rupees)  [68][69][70][71][72]	129.5	217.0	325.2	377.5	777.2	680.4	929.4	1194.4	1369.7	1833.9	1388.7	1456.7	1349.3	1863.8	2260.4
15	Total revenues as % of GDP  [6]	14.3%	13.8%	13.1%	14.0%	14.1%	14.0%	14.0%	12.3%	12.8%	13.3%	14.5%	14.3%	15.3%	15.5%	15.2%
16	Tax revenue as % of GDP  [68][69][70][71]	11.0	10.1%	9.8%	9.6%	9.9%	9.1%	9.9%	9.3%	10.2%	9.8%	10.2%	11.0%	12.6%	12.4%	13.0%
17	Total expenditures as % of GDP  [6]	16.7%	17.2%	17.1%	18.1%	21.4%	19.2%	20.2%	18.9%	21.4%	21.5%	20.0%	19.6%	19.9%	21.3%	21.8%
18	Fiscal Deficit as % of GDP  [74][75]	2.4%	3.3%	4.0%	4.1%	7.3%	5.2%	6.2%	6.5%	8.8%	8.2%	5.5%	5.3%	4.6%	5.8%	6.6%

Current account

Amounts in Million US Dollars ^[76]

Index	List	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 2019 Jul-Aug
19	Credit	20,570	22,003	27,006	31,761	33,016	37,247	35,357	38,135	47,703	48,243	50,197	51,153	52,920	51,336	51,867	-	10,109
20	Debit	16,500	20,192	28,540	36,751	39,894	51,121	44,617	42,081	47,489	52,901	52,693	54,283	55,629	56,203	64,488	-	12,435
30	Net	4,070	1,811	-1,534	-4,990	-6,878	-13,874	-9,261	-3,946	214	-4,658	-2,496	-3,130	-2,709	-4,867	-12,621	-18,130	-2,326

Government debt and liabilities

• Total Public Debt = Gross Public Debt + External Liabilities
• Gross Public Debt = Government (Federal+Provincial) Domestic Debt + Government (Federal+Provincial) External Debt + Debt from IMF
• Total Debt of Government / Net Public Debt = Gross Public Debt - Government Deposits in the Banking System. (introduced in June 2017)
• Public External Debt = Government External Debt + Debt from IMF. Foreign Exchange Liabilities are not included
• Total External Debt = Public External Debt + Public Sector Enterprises + Banks + Private Sector + Debt Liabilities to Direct Investors

Index	List	Jun 2004	Jun 2005	Jun 2006	Jun 2007	Jun 2008	Jun 2009	Jun 2010	Jun 2011	Jun 2012	Jun 2013	Jun 2014	Jun 2015	Jun 2016	Jun 2017	Jun 2018
19	Total Public Debt (Billion Rupees)  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	7835.5	9,232.2	10,990.7	12,924.3	14,574.7	16,315.5	17,757.7	20,053.7	21,785.5	25,574.1
19(a)	Total Public Debt as % of GDP  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	59.4%	62.1%	60.1%	64.5%	65.1%	64.8%	64.7%	69.0%	68.2%	74.4%
20	Gross Public Debt (Billion Rupees)  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	7,731.1	9,010.4	10,770.8	12,696.7	14,291.7	15,991.3	17,380.2	19,676.6	21,408.7	24,951.8
20(a)	Gross Public Debt as % of GDP  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	58.6%	60.6%	58.9%	63.3%	63.9%	63.5%	63.3%	67.7%	67.0%	72.5%
21	Total Debt Of Government / Net Public Debt ( Billion Rupees)  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	7,204.9	8,410.8	9,927.6	11,890.2	13,457.3	14,623.9	15,986.0	17,823.2	19,635.4	23,050.5
21(a)	Total Debt Of Government / Net Public Debt as % of GDP  [77][78]	-	-	-	-	-	54.6%	56.6%	54.3%	59.3%	60.1%	58.1%	58.3%	61.3%	61.4%	67.0%
22	Public External Debt (Billion US $)  [79][80]	33.3	34.0	35.7	38.7	40.7	46.4	49.8	55.3	53.5	48.1	51.3	50.9	57.7	62.5	70.2
22(a)	Public External Debt as % of GDP  [79][80]	32.3%	29.6%	26.9%	25.4%	26.1%	28.6%	28.7%	26.0%	25.2%	21.4%	20.2%	18.9%	20.8%	20.6%	24.8%
23	Total External Debt (Billion US $) [79][80]	34.7	35.4	37.2	40.3	46.1	52.3	61.6	66.3	65.5	60.9	65.3	65.2	73.9	83.0	95.1

Pakistan External Debt Servicing (Principal + Interest)^[81]

Foreign exchange reserves

Index	List	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
24	Foreign exchange reserves SBP + Scheduled Banks (Billion US Dollars)  [82][83][84][85][86]	13.2	13.3	14.6	18.9	13.4	14.0	18.0	21.0	16.5	11.0	14.1	18.7	23.1	21.4	16.4

Foreign direct investment

Index	List	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018[87]
25	Foreign direct investment (Million US Dollars)  [88]	949.4	1524.0	3521.0	5139.6	5410.2	3719.9	2150.8	1634.8	820.6	1456.5	1698.6	987.9	2305.3	2746.8	2767.6

PSE 100 index growth rate

Index	List	2000s	2003–2004	2004–2005	2005–2006	2006–2007	2007–2008	2008–2009	2009–2010	2010–2011	2011–2012	2012–2013	2013–2014	2014–2015	2015–2016	2016–2017	2017-2018
26	PSE 100 index growth rate  [6][89]	27.2%	55.2%	41.1%	34.1%	37.9%	-10.8%	-41.7%	35.7%	28.5%	10.4%	52.2%	41.2%	16.0%	9.9%	27.5	-7.1%

Foreign trade

Note : This is the merchandised trade data (export and import) as released by the SBP.This may differ from the data compiled by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Index	List	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 2019 Jul-Aug
27	USD to PKR exchange rates  [90]	57.5745	59.3576	59.8566	60.6342	62.5465	78.4983	83.8017	85.5017	89.2359	96.7272	102.8591	101.2947	104.2351	104.6971	109.8444
28	Exports of Pakistan (billion US dollars)  [91][92]	12.396	14.401	16.553	17.278	20.427	19.121	19.673	25.354	24.718	24.802	25.078	24.089	21.972	22.003	24.772	4.096
29(a)	Exports growth rate  [91]	13.8%	16.2%	13.8%	4.5%	18.0%	-6.4%	2.9%	28.9%	-2.6%	0.3%	1.1%	-3.9%	-8.8%	0.1%	12.6%
30	Imports of Pakistan (billion US dollars)  [91][92]	13.604	18.753	24.994	26.989	35.397	31.747	31.132	35.796	40.371	40.157	41.668	41.357	41.255	48.683	55.846	9.959
31(a)	Imports growth rate  [91]	20.0%	37.8%	31.6%	8.0%	31.2%	-10.3%	-1.7%	15.0%	12.8%	-0.5%	3.8%	-0.7%	-0.2%	18.0%	14.7%
32	Trade deficit (billion US dollars)  [91][92]	1.208	4.352	8.441	9.711	14.970	12.627	11.452	10.427	15.652	15.355	16.590	17.267	19.283	26.680	31.074	5.863
33	Trade deficit as % of GDP  [6][93][2]	1.2%	4.0%	6.5%	6.2%	8.8%	7.5%	6.5%	4.9%	7.0%	6.6%	6.8%	6.3%	6.6%	8.7%	9.9%

Workers' remittances

Index	List	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2008	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011	FY 2012	FY 2013	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 2019 Jul-Aug
34	Workers' remittances (billion US dollars )  [94][95]	–	–	4.6	5.4	6.4	7.8	8.9	11.2	13.1	13.9	15.8	18.7	19.9	19.3	19.6	3.97
35	Workers' remittances growth rate  [6]	-8.6%	7.7%	10.4%	19.4%	17.4%	21.1%	14.0%	25.8%	17.7%	5.6%	13.7%	18.2%	6.4%	-3.0%	1.4%

A view of I. I. Chundrigar Road of Karachi (Financial Capital of Pakistan)

Main Industries by Region – Pakistan. Source:^[96]

In 2016, the Atlantic Media Company (AMC) of the United States has ranked Pakistan as a relatively stronger economy in the South Asian markets and expected that it will grow rapidly during days ahead. AMC said that during the period January–July this year, Indian 100 point index was 6.67% while Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) had achieved 100 point index of 17 percent.^[97]

Stock market

In the first four years of the twenty-first century, Pakistan's KSE 100 Index was the best-performing stock market index in the world as declared by the international magazine "Business Week".^[98] The stock market capitalisation of listed companies in Pakistan was valued at $5,937 million in 2005 by the World Bank.^[99] But in 2008, after the General Elections, uncertain political environment, rising militancy along western borders of the country, and mounting inflation and current account deficits resulted in the steep decline of the Karachi Stock Exchange. As a result, the corporate sector of Pakistan has declined dramatically in recent times. However, the market bounced back strongly in 2009 and the trend continues in 2011. By 2014 the stock market burst into uncharted territories as the benchmark KSE 100 Index rose 907 points (3.1%) and shot past the 30,000-point barrier to close at a new record high, this came days after Moody's announced that it was upgrading the outlook of 5 major Pakistani banks from Negative to Stable, resulting in heavy buying in the banking sector. The rally was supported by heavy buying in the oil and gas and cement sectors.^[100] On 11 January 2016, aimed to help reduce market fragmentation and create a strong case for attracting strategic partnerships necessary for providing technological expertise all the three stock exchanges including Karachi Stock Exchange, Lahore Stock Exchange and Islamabad Stock Exchange were inducted into a unified Pakistan Stock Exchange.^[101] In May 2017 American provider of stock market indexes and analysis tools, MSCI has confirmed that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has been reclassified from Frontier Markets to Emerging Markets in its semi-annual index review.^[102] Euphoria over the stock exchange's reclassification as an emerging market propelled the PSE-100 Index past another milestone when the Index recorded an increase of 636.96 points, or 1.23%, to end at 52,387.87.^[103] In the fiscal year 2018, the stock market showed a negative growth of 7.1% over the last fiscal year and stood at 47000 points at average.^[28]

Middle class

As of 2017, according to Wall Street Journal, citing estimates largely based on income and the purchase of consumption goods, had suggested that as many as 42% of Pakistan's population may now belong to the upper and middle classes. If these numbers are correct, or even indicative in any broad sense, then 87 million Pakistanis belong to the middle and upper classes, a population size which is larger than that of Germany.^[104] Official figures also show that the proportion of households that own a motorcycle and washing machines has grown impressively over the past 15 years.^[105] Furthermore, the IBA-SBP Consumer Confidence Index recorded its highest-ever level of 174.9 points in January 2017, showing an increase of 17 points from July 2016.

Separately, consumer financing posted an increase of Rs37.6 billion during first half of the current fiscal year of 2017. Auto finance continued to be the dominated segment, while personal loans showed a pickup as well. “The net credit off-take of Rs13.7 billion of personal loans witnessed in first half of the fiscal year 2017 is the highest half-year figure in about a decade,” the report stated.^[104]

Poverty alleviation expenditures

Socio-Economic Status of Pakistanis, source:^[106]

Pakistan government spent over 1 trillion Rupees (about $16.7 billion) on poverty alleviation programmes during the past four years, cutting poverty from 35% in 2000–01 to 29.3% in 2013 and 17% in 2015.^[107] Rural poverty remains a pressing issue, as development there has been far slower than in the major urban areas.

Tourism

Faisal Mosque in the capital Islamabad.

Tourism in Pakistan has been stated as being the tourism industry's "next big thing". Pakistan, with its diverse cultures, people and landscapes, has attracted 90 million tourists to the country, almost double to that of a decade ago. Due to threat of terrorism the number of foreigner tourists has gradually declined and the shock of 2013 Nanga Parbat tourist shooting has terribly adversely effected the tourism industry.^[112] As of 2016 tourism has begun to recover in Pakistan, albeit gradually.^[113]

Revenue

Although the country is a Federation with constitutional division of taxation powers between the Federal Government and the four provinces, the revenue department of the Federal Government, the Federal board of Revenue, collects almost 95% of the entire national revenue. The Federal Board of Revenue collected 3.370 trillion rupees in taxes against the target of 3.621 trillion rupees in the fiscal year 2016–2017. FBR achieved 8% growth in revenues over the previous fiscal year's collection of Rs3.114 trillion.^[114]

Rupee

The basic unit of currency is the Rupee, ISO code PKR and abbreviated Rs, which is divided into 100 paisas. Currently the newly printed 5,000 rupee note is the largest denomination in circulation. Recently the SBP has introduced all new design notes of Rs. 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000.

Dollar-Rupee exchange rate

The Pakistani Rupee was pegged to the Pound sterling until 1982, when the government of General Zia-ul-Haq, changed it to managed float. As a result, the rupee devalued by 38.5% between 1982/83 many of the industries built by his predecessor suffered with a huge surge in import costs. After years of appreciation under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and despite huge increases in foreign aid the Rupee depreciated.

Foreign exchange rate

The Pakistani rupee depreciated against the US dollar until around the start of the 21st century, when Pakistan's large current-account surplus pushed the value of the rupee up versus the dollar. Pakistan's central bank then stabilised by lowering interest rates and buying dollars, in order to preserve the country's export competitiveness

Foreign exchange reserves

Pakistan maintains foreign reserves with State Bank of Pakistan. The currency of the reserves was solely US dollar incurring speculated losses after the dollar prices fell during 2005, forcing the then Governor SBP Ishrat Hussain to step down. In the same year the SBP issued an official statement proclaiming diversification of reserves in currencies including Euro and Yen, withholding ratio of diversification.

Following the international credit crisis and spikes in crude oil prices, Pakistan's economy could not withstand the pressure and on October 11, 2008, State Bank of Pakistan reported that the country's foreign exchange reserves had gone down by $571.9 million to $7749.7 million.^[115] The foreign exchange reserves had declined more by $10 billion to a level of $6.59 billion. in June 2013 Pakistan was on the brink of default on its financial commitments. Country's Forex reserves were at an historic low covering only two weeks' worth of imports. Today in November 2017 Pakistan's Foreign exchange reserves are at a comfortable level (20 billion dollars), sufficient to cover about 3 months of imports.

Agriculture

Agriculture by Province

Mango Orchard in Multan, Pakistan

The most important crops are wheat, sugarcane, cotton, and rice, which together account for more than 75% of the value of total crop output. Pakistan's largest food crop is wheat. In 2017, Pakistan produced 26,674,000 tonnes of wheat, more than all of Africa and nearly as much as all of South America, according to the USDA.^[116] Pakistan has also cut the use of dangerous pesticides dramatically.^[117]

Pakistan is a net food exporter, except in occasional years when its harvest is adversely affected by droughts. Pakistan exports rice, cotton, fish, fruits (especially Oranges and Mangoes), and vegetables and imports vegetable oil, wheat, pulses and consumer foods. The country is Asia's largest camel market, second-largest apricot and ghee market and third-largest cotton, onion and milk market. The economic importance of agriculture has declined since independence, when its share of GDP was around 53%. Following the poor harvest of 1993, the government introduced agriculture assistance policies, including increased support prices for many agricultural commodities and expanded availability of agricultural credit. From 1993 to 1997, real growth in the agricultural sector averaged 5.7% but has since declined to about 4%. Agricultural reforms, including increased wheat and oil seed production, play a central role in the government's economic reform package.

Majority of the population, directly or indirectly, dependent on this sector. It contributes about 18.9% percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for 42.3% of employed labor force and is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings.^[67] During 2017-18, agriculture sector recorded a remarkable growth of 3.81 percent and surpassed its targeted growth of 3.5 percent and last year's growth of 2.07 percent. All the major crops showed a positive trend in their production except maize.^[118] Sugarcane and rice production surpassed their historic level with 81.1 and 7.4 million tons respectively. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics provisionally valued this sector at Rs. 7,764,218 million for the year 2018 thus registering the growth of 6.1% over the last year.^[60] Pakistan's Top commodities productions in 2017 and provisionally in 2018 are :^[119]

Commodity	Value	2016-2017	2017-2018(P)
Wheat	Tonnes	26,674,000	25,492,000
Cotton	Bales	10,671,000	11,935,000
Rice	Tonnes	6,849,000	7,442,000
Sugarcane	Tonnes	75,482,000	81,102,000
Maize	Tonnes	6,134,000	5,702,000

Pakistan's principal natural resources are arable land and water. About 25% of Pakistan's total land area is under cultivation and is watered by one of the largest irrigation systems in the world. Pakistan irrigates three times more acres than Russia. Pakistan agriculture also benefits from year round warmth. Agriculture accounts for about 18.9% of GDP and employs about 42.3% of the labour force. Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited is the largest financial institution geared towards the development of agriculture sector through provision of financial services and technical expertise.

Mining

Main article: Mining in Pakistan

Pakistan is endowed with significant mineral resources and is emerging as a very promising area for prospecting/exploration for mineral deposits. Based on available information, the country's more than 6,00,000 km² of outcrops area demonstrates varied geological potential for metallic and non-metallic mineral deposits. In the wake of 18th amendment to the constitution all the provinces are free to exploit and explore the mineral resources which are in their jurisdiction. Mining and quarrying contributes 13.19% in industrial sector and its share in GDP is 2.8%. Pakistan mining and quarrying sector grew by 3.04% in 2018 against the negative growth of -0.38% last year.

In the recent past, exploration by government agencies as well as by multinational mining companies presents ample evidence of the occurrences of sizeable minerals deposits. Recent discoveries of a thick oxidised zone underlain by sulphide zones in the shield area of the Punjab province, covered by thick alluvial cover have opened new vistas for metallic minerals exploration. Pakistan has a large base for industrial minerals. The discovery of coal deposits having over 175 billion tones of reserves at Thar in the Sindh province has given an impetus to develop it as an alternative source of energy. There is vast potential for precious and dimension stones.

Extraction of principal minerals in the last 4 fiscal years is given in the table below :-^[120]

Minerals	Unit of quantity	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018 estimated
Coal	Metric Ton	3,406,851	3,749,312	3,953,992	4,179,342
Natural Gas	MMCFT	1,465,759	1,481,550	1,471,854	1,454,840
Crude Oil	JSB	34,490,000	31,652,000	32,269,000	32,401,000
Chromite	Metric Ton	100,516	69,333	105,238	84,031
Magnesite	Metric Ton	4,611	35,228	19,656	21,337
Dolomite	Metric Ton	223,117	666,755	301,124	298,323
Gypsum	Metric Ton	1,417,007	1,871,716	2,179,629	2,222,061
Lime stone	Metric Ton	39,819,401	48,296,551	52,144,064	59,131,013
Rock Salt	Metric Ton	2,136,361	3,552,984	3,534,075	3,491,246
Sulphur	Metric Ton	19,730	14,869	23,740	22,787
Barytes	Metric Ton	118,568	157,858	91,711	105,524
Soap Stone	Metric Ton	100,724	125,985	152,279	218,564
Marble	Metric Ton	2,520,170	4,747113	4,904,400	7,025,400
Bauxite	Metric Ton	24,689	57,024	75,375	103,412
Quartz	Metric Ton	38,016	88,353	98,529	194,378

Industry

Manufacturing by Province

Pakistan's industrial sector accounts for about 20.9% of GDP. In 2018 it recorded a growth of 5.80% as compared to the growth of 5.43% last year. Manufacturing is the most vibrant sub sector of the industrial sector having 64.8% contribution in the industrial sector and in GDP it accounts for 13.6%. Manufacturing sub-sector is further divided in three components including large-scale manufacturing (LSM) with the share of 79.6% percent in manufacturing sector, small scale manufacturing share is 13.8 percent in manufacturing sector, while slaughtering contributes 6.5 percent in the manufacturing.^[121] Major sectors in industries include cement, fertiliser, edible oil, sugar, steel, tobacco, chemicals, machinery, food processing and medical instruments, primarily surgical.^{[122][123][124]} Pakistan is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of surgical instruments.^[125][126]

The government is privatizing large-scale industrial units, and the public sector accounts for a shrinking proportion of industrial output, while growth in overall industrial output (including the private sector) has accelerated. Government policies aim to diversify the country's industrial base and bolster export industries. Large Scale Manufacturing is the fastest-growing sector in Pakistani economy.^[127] Major Industries include textiles, fertiliser, cement, oil refineries, dairy products, food processing, beverages, construction materials, clothing, paper products and shrimp.

In Pakistan SMEs have a significant contribution in the total GDP of Pakistan, according to SMEDA and Economic survey reports, the share in the annual GDP is 40% likewise SMEs generating significant employment opportunities for skilled workers and entrepreneurs. Small and medium scale firms represent nearly 90% of all the enterprises in Pakistan and employ 80% of the non-agricultural labor force. These figures indicate the potential and further growth in this sector.^[108]

Pakistan's largest corporation are mostly involved in utilities like oil, gas and telecommunication:

Services

PRC Towers, Karachi.

Pakistan's service sector accounts for about 60.2% of GDP.^[140] Transport, storage, communications, finance, and insurance account for 24% of this sector, and wholesale and retail trade about 30%. Pakistan is trying to promote the information industry and other modern service industries through incentives such as long-term tax holidays.

Telecommunication

Main article: Telecommunications in Pakistan

PTCL's One Stop Shop in Islamabad

After the deregulation of the telecommunication industry, the sector has seen an exponential growth. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd has emerged as a successful Forbes 2000 conglomerate with over US $1 billion in sales in 2005. The mobile telephone market has exploded many-fold since 2003 to reach a subscriber base of 140 million users in July 2017, one of the highest mobile teledensities in the entire world.^[141] In addition, there are over 6 million landlines in the country with 100% fibre-optic network and coverage via WLL in even the remotest areas.^[142] As a result, Pakistan won the prestigious Government Leadership award of GSM Association in 2006.^[143]

The World Bank estimates that it takes about 3 days to get a phone connection in Pakistan.^[144]

In Pakistan, the following are the top mobile phone operators:

1. Jazz Pakistan (Parent: VEON, Netherland)
2. Ufone (Parent: PTCL (Etisalat), Pakistan/UAE)
3. Telenor (Parent: Telenor, Norway)
4. Zong (Parent: China Mobile, China)

By March 2009, Pakistan had 91 million mobile subscribers – 25 million more subscribers than reported in the same period in 2008. In addition to the 3.1 million fixed lines, while as many as 2.4 million are using Wireless Local Loop connections. Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola along with Samsung and LG remain the most popular brands among customers.^[145]

Since liberalisation, over the past four years, the Pakistani telecom sector has attracted more than $9 billion in foreign investments.^[146] During 2007–08, the Pakistani communication sector alone received $1.62 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – about 30% of the country's total foreign direct investment.

Present growth of state-of-the-art infrastructures in the telecoms sector during the last four years has been the result of the PTA's vision and implementation of the deregulation policy. Paging and mobile (cellular) telephones were adopted early and freely. Cellular phones and the Internet were adopted through a rather laissez-faire policy with a proliferation of private service providers that led to the fast adoption. With a rapid increase in the number of Internet users and ISPs, and a large English-speaking population, Pakistani society has seen an unparalleled revolution in communications.

According to the PC World,^[147] a total of 6.37 billion text messages were sent through Acision messaging systems across Asia Pacific over the 2008/2009 Christmas and New Year period. Pakistan was amongst the top five ranker with one of the highest SMS traffic with 763 million messages. On 14 August 2010, Pakistan became the first country in the world to experience EVDO's RevB 3G technology that offers maximum speeds of 9.3 Mbit/s. 3G and 4G was simultaneously launched in Pakistan on April 23, 2014 through a SMRA Auction. Three out of Five Companies got a 3G licence i.e. Ufone, Mobilink and Telenor while China Mobile's Zong got 3G as well as a 4G licence. Whereas fifth company, Warid Pakistan did not participate in the auction procedure, But they launched 4G LTE services on their existing 2G 1800 MHz spectrum due to Technology neutral terms and became world's first Telecom Company to transform directly from 2G to 4G. With that Pakistan joined the 3G and 4G world. In December 2017, 3G and 4G subscribers in Pakistan reached to 46 millions.^[141]

Pakistan is ranked 4th in terms of broadband Internet growth in the world, as the subscriber base of broadband Internet has been increasing rapidly. The rankings are released by Point Topic Global broadband analysis, a global research centre.^[148]

• Pakistan has more than 20 million Internet users in 2009.^[149] The country is said to have a potential to absorb up to 50 million mobile phone Internet users in the next 5 years thus a potential of nearly 1 million connections per month.
• Almost all of the main government departments, organisations and institutions have their own websites.
• The use of search engines and instant messaging services is also booming. Pakistanis are some of the most ardent chatters on the Internet, communicating with users all over the world. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the use of online marriage services, for example, leading to a major re-alignment of the tradition of arranged marriages.
• Biometric reverification of SIMs in 2015 had an adverse impact on the cellular subscriber base when subscribers count dropped from 139.9 million to 114.6 million. However, the industry has survived through the tough period and continues to regain subscribers at a fast pace.

According to the report released by PTA for the FY 2016-17 :-^[150]

• Total teledensity of Pakistan reached at 72.4%.
• Telecom revenues were reached to Rs. 467.6 billion.
• Total contribution of telecom sector to the national exchequre was RS. 161.4 billion.
• Investment came to the telecom sector was US$634.9 million.

As of December 2017 there were four cell phone companies including PMCL(Jazz), Telenor, Ufone and Zong operating in the country with nearly 142 million mobile phone subscribers.^[151]

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority released the figures in December 2017 that Broadband subscribers in the country reached to approximately 49 millions thus gaining the growth of over 18 fold since 2006.^[151]

Housing

Main article: Housing in Pakistan

Houses in Bahria Town, the largest private housing society in Asia.

The property sector has expanded twenty-threefold since 2001, particularly in metropolises like Lahore.^[160] Nevertheless, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated in late 2006 that the overall production of housing units in Pakistan has to be increased to 0.5 million units annually to address 6.1 million backlog of housing in Pakistan for meeting the housing shortfall in next 20 years. The report noted that the present housing stock is also rapidly aging and an estimate suggests that more than 50% of stock is over 50 years old. It is also estimated that 50% of the urban population now lives in slums and squatter settlements. The report said that meeting the backlog in housing, besides replacement of out-lived housing units, is beyond the financial resources of the government. This necessitates putting in place a framework to facilitate financing in the formal private sector and mobilise non-government resources for a market-based housing finance system.^[161]

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics provisionally valued this sector at Rs.459,829 million in 2012 thus registering over 149% growth since 2006.^[158]

Investment

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan soared by 180.6 percent year-on-year to US$2.22 billion and portfolio investment by 276 percent to $407.4 million during the first nine months of fiscal year 2006, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported on 24 April. During July–March 2005–06, FDI year-on-year increased to $2.224 billion from only $792.6 million and portfolio investment to $407.4 million, whereas it was $108.1 million in the corresponding period last year, according to the latest statistics released by the State Bank.^[165] Pakistan has achieved FDI of almost $8.4 billion in the financial year 06/07, surpassing the government target of $4 billion.^[166] Foreign investment had significantly declined by 2010, dropping by 54.6% due to Pakistan's political instability and weak law and order, according to the Bank of Pakistan.^[167]

Business regulations have been overhauled along liberal lines, especially since 1999. Most barriers to the flow of capital and international direct investment have been removed. Foreign investors do not face any restrictions on the inflow of capital, and investment of up to 100% of equity participation is allowed in most sectors. Unlimited remittance of profits, dividends, service fees or capital is now the rule. However, doing business has been becoming increasingly difficult over the past decade due to political instability, rising domestic insurgency and insecurity and vehement corruption. This can be confirmed by the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index report degrading its ratings for Pakistan each year since September 2009 when it ranked Pakistan (at 85th) well ahead of neighbours like China (at 89th) and India (at 133rd).^[168]

Pakistan is attracting private equity and was the ranked as number 20 in the world based on the amount of private equity entering the nation. Pakistan has been able to attract a portion of the global private equity investments because of economic reforms initiated in 2003 that have provided foreign investors with greater assurances for the stability of the nation and their ability to repatriate invested funds in the future.^[169]

Tariffs have been reduced to an average rate of 16%, with a maximum of 25% (except for the car industry). The privatization process, which started in the early 1990s, has gained momentum, with most of the banking system privately owned, and the oil sector targeted to be the next big privatization operation.

The recent improvements in the economy and the business environment have been recognised by international rating agencies such as Moody's and Standard and Poor's (country risk upgrade at the end of 2003). 47.1% increase in Net FDI in 2014–2015 (July–October) as compared to 2013–14 (July–October).^[170]

Foreign trade

Pakistan's external sector continued facing stress during 2016–17. But still Pakistan's merchandise trade exports grew by 0.1 percent during the fiscal year 2016–17. The imports continued to grow at a much faster rate and grew by a large percentage of 18.0 during the FY 2017 as compared to the previous year.^[175] World imports had been stagnant between 2011 and 2014 but registered significant drop since early 2015 because of weak commodity and product prices and weak global economic activity. Economic growth was lacklustre in the OECD countries which contributed to the slowdown in China. Furthermore, the ratio between real growth in world imports and world real GDP growth substantially declined. This decline in the import content of economic activity triggered a shift in consumption worldwide from traded towards non-traded goods, import substitution, a slowdown in the pace of trade liberalization, and gave currency to protectionist measures. A bulk of Pakistan's exports are directed to the OECD region and China. Historical data suggest strong correlation between Pakistani exports to imports in OECD and China. As per FY 2016 data, more than half of country's exports are shipped to these two destinations i.e. OECD and China. A decline in Pakistan overall exports,thus occurred in this backdrop.^[176]

Pakistan's imports are showing rising trend at a relatively faster rate (18.0 percent) due to the increased economic activity as part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), particularly in the Energy sector. The construction projects under CPEC require heavy machinery that has to be imported. It is also observed that the economy is currently being led both by investments as well as consumption, resulting in relatively higher levels of imports.

The sharp increase in imports may not be a cause for major worry, the imports during the current fiscal year included around $12 billion of capital goods (machinery, metals etc.), which would eventually increase the country's industrial capacity and help exports flourish. The increase in import of machinery will have multiplier effect on the economy as the manufacturing has the highest backward linkage among the major sectors. As the demand for manufacturing grows, it in turn will help in the creation of jobs, investments, and innovations. Pakistan major exports commodities for the last four fiscal years are listed in the table below:-^[177]

Commodities	FY 2015 (million US $)	FY 2016 (million US $)	FY 2017 (million US $)	FY 2018 (million US $)
Cotton Cloth	2486.783	2,331.587	2,123.042	2,168.461
Knitwear	2264.114	2,309.248	2,334.599	2,612.672
Ready-made Garments	2044.018	2,156.033	2,279.450	2,472.052
Bed wear	2207.477	2,126.360	2,156.753	2,343.665
Rice	2037.841	1,852.708	1,574.950	1,938.548
Cotton Yarn	1818.196	1,266.127	1,140.214	1,240.206
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products	1249.959	1,052.316	1,113.300	1,381.636

Exports & Imports of Pakistan From 2012-2017

Pakistan major imports commodities for the last four fiscal years are listed in the table below:-^[178]

Commodities	FY 2015 (million US $)	FY 2016 (million US $)	FY 2017 (million US $)	FY 2018 (million US $)
Petroleum products	7,773.620	5,098.139	6,379.880	6,768.246
Petroleum crude	4,393.223	2,569.696	2,764.648	4,310.250
Iron and Steel	1,813.412	2,094.016	1980.112	2,546.316
Plastic material	1,771.758	1,791.303	1,875.104	2,310.158
Electrical Machinery & Apparatus	935.290	1,650.692	1,317.167	1,800.541
Palm oil	1,681.170	1,600.041	1,775.118	1,907.138
Power Generating Machinery	897.940	1,356.328	1,336.598	1,495.723
Road vehicles	1,024.972	1,263.807	1,774.141	2,182.263
Telecom	1,225.078	1,201.062	1,023.021	1,396.576
Liquefied natural gas	135.232	578.924	1,270.680	2,035.506

External imbalances

During FY 2017, the increase in imports of capital equipment and fuel significantly put pressure on the external account. A reversal in global oil prices led to increase in POL imports, accompanied by falling exports, as a result the merchandised trade deficit grew by 39.4 percent to US$26.885 billion in FY 2017. While remittances and Coalition Support Fund inflows both declined slightly over the same period last year, however, the impact was offset by an improvement in the income account, mainly due to lower profit repatriations by oil and gas firms.^[176]

Current account – The Current account deficit increased to US$12.4 billion in FY 2017, against US$3.2 billion in FY 2016.^[179]

However, the impact of high current deficit on foreign exchange reserves was not severe, as financial inflows were available to the country to partially offset the gap; these inflows helped ensure stability in the exchange rate. Net FDI grew by 12.4 percent and reached US$1.6 billion in the nine-months period, whereas net FPI saw an inflow of US$631 million, against an outflow of US$393 million last year. Encouragingly for the country, the period saw the completion of multiple merger and acquisition deals between local and foreign companies. Moreover, multiple foreign automakers announced their intention to enter the Pakistani market, and some also entered into joint ventures with local conglomerates.This indicates that Pakistan is clearly on foreign investors' radar, and provides a positive outlook for FDI inflows going forward. government's successful issuance of a US$1.0 billion Sukuk in the international capital market, at an extremely low rate of 5.5 percent. Besides, Pakistan continued to enjoy support from international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and from bilateral partners like China, in the post-EFF period: net official loan inflows of US$1.1 billion were recorded during the period. As a result, the country's FX reserve amounted to US$20.8 billion by May 4, 2017 sufficient to finance around four month of import payments.^[176]

Economic aid

Pakistan receives economic aid from several sources as loans and grants. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), etc. provides long-term loans to Pakistan. Pakistan also receives bilateral aid from developed and oil-rich countries.

The Asian Development Bank will provide close to $6 billion development assistance to Pakistan during 2006–9.^[180] The World Bank unveiled a lending programme of up to $6.5 billion for Pakistan under a new four-year, 2006–2009, aid strategy showing a significant increase in funding aimed largely at beefing up the country's infrastructure.^[181] Japan will provide $500 million annual economic aid to Pakistan.^[182] In November 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan of 7.6 billion to Pakistan, to help stabilise and rebuild the country's economy.

More recently the government of Pakistan received an economic aid of US $5bn dollars out of which the US pledge of $1bn was described as a down-payment on the previously announced $1.5bn already promised to Pakistan for each of the next five years. The European Union promised $640m over four years, while reports said Saudi Arabia had pledged $700m over two years.^[183] Overall Friends of Pakistan had pledged $1.6 billion in aid, which would help Pakistan move forward on its way to self-reliance.

The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is being developed with $46 billion of Chinese loans and grants.

Remittances

The remittances of Pakistanis living abroad has played important role in Pakistan's economy and foreign exchange reserves. The Pakistanis settled in Western Europe and North America are important sources of remittances to Pakistan. Since 1973 the Pakistani workers in the oil rich Arab states have been sources of billions of dollars of remittances.

The 9 million-strong Pakistani diaspora, contributed US$19.3 billion to the economy in FY2017.^[184] The major source countries of remittances to Pakistan include UAE, US, Saudi Arabia, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), Australia, Canada, Japan, UK and EU countries like Norway and Switzerland.

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers have seen a negative growth of 3.0% in the fiscal year 2017 compare to previous year when remittances reached at all-time high of 19.9 billion US dollars. This decline in remittances is mainly due to the adverse economic conditions of Arabian and gulf countries after the fall in oil prices in 2016. However, the recent development activities in the Qatar FIFA World Cup, Dubai Expo, Saudi Arabia's implementation of its Vision 2030 and particularly the recent visit of the P.M to Kuwait should all be helpful in opening new avenues for employment in these countries . Going forward one can expect improvements in the coming years.

Remittances sent home by overseas Pakistanis in the fiscal year 2016/17 are as under:^[175]

Country	[Million USD]
USA	2,443.54
UK	2,338.34
Saudi Arabia	5,469.77
UAE	4,309.88
Gulf Cooperation Council	2,324.06
European Union	482.59
Norway	41.31
Switzerland	26.34
Australia	204.31
Canada	187.22
Japan	14.31
Other countries	1,461.91

Revenues and taxation

Pakistan has a low tax/GDP ratio, which it is trying to improve. The current tax-to-GDP ratio is 12.6% (2016),^[186] which is a little less than its neighbour India 16.6% (2016) ^[187] while a slight more than Sri Lanka 12.3% (2015).^[188] The pace of revenue mobilization has witnessed an upward trajectory since FY 2013. Overall revenues increased to 15.3 percent of GDP in FY 2016, compared to 13.3 percent of GDP recorded in FY 2013. Among those, tax revenues increased from 9.8 percent of GDP in FY 2013 to 12.6 percent of GDP in FY 2016.

Expenditures

Government expenditures were 4,383.6 billion rupees (FY 2016–2017 July to March). Total expenditures witnessed a downward trajectory without compromising the expenditures on development projects and social assistance. Particularly, expenditures under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) have been raised adequately in order to meet the investment requirements. During FY 2017 the size of federal PSDP has increased to Rs 800 billion from Rs 348.3 billion during FY 2013, showing a cumulative increase of over 129 percent. During first nine months of current fiscal year, the fiscal deficit stood at 3.9 percent of GDP against 3.5 percent of GDP recorded in the same period of FY 2016 on account of higher development expenditures along with various tax incentives to promote investment and economic activity in the country and security related expenditures. On the basis of previous estimates of GDP at Rs 33,509 billion, the fiscal deficit was recorded at 3.7 percent during first nine months of current fiscal year against 3.4 percent registered in the comparable period of FY 2016. Total revenues grew at 6.2 percent to Rs 3,145.5 billion during July–March, FY 2017 against Rs 2,961.9 in the comparable period of FY 2016.^[186]

Sovereign bonds

Pakistan is expected to sell a dual-tranche sovereign bond worth $750 million on 23 March 2006 that analysts said should ensure a favourable reception in the bond market. The 10-year tranche would be $500 million and the 30-year portion $250 million. Pricing is expected during New York trading hours on 23 March 2006. The sources said that the 10-year tranche was expected to be priced at around 100125%, while the longer-dated tranche was expected to be sold at around 70.875%, the top end of the indicative yield range of 3.75 to 10.875%.

The bonds, consisting of 10-year and 30-year tranches, had generated $1.5 billion in orders and a total size of as much as $1.25 billion had been anticipated for what is Pakistan's third foray into the international debt market since 2004.^[189]

The Government of Pakistan has been raising money from the international debt market from time to time.

The details of amount raised in various issues are as follows:

1999 – $6230 million

2004 – $5000 million @ 6.75%^[190]

2005 – $6000 million worth Islamic bonds^[189][191]

2007 – $7500 million @ 6.875% worth Euro Bonds which were highly over subscribed^[192]