The Economic Survey of Pakistan is the most relevant budgeting document of finance ministry as it presents the overall sate of country’s economy. The government unveiled the Economic Survey 2015-16 on Thursday June 2, 2016 to highlight its achievements in the past year.
The government, for the third year in a row, has missed the most critical target of annual growth rate, including the GDP growth rate that stood at 4.71 percent against a conceived target of 5.5 percent during the fiscal year 2015-16.

GDP Growth

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measure of increase in monetary value of all goods and services produced in one year have grown at a rate of 4.7 percent against the target of 5.5 percent.

Agriculture Sector

For the first time in decades, the output in agriculture sector, the backbone of the economy contracted in 2015-16. The agricultural sector witnessed a negative growth of 0.19 percent against a projection of 3.9 percent. The government is of the point of view that due to poor performance of agriculture sector and 28 percent decline in cotton crop, the overall GDP growth suffered a decline of 0.5 percent.

Industrial Sector

Industrial sector recorded growth at 6.8 percent. The target for the industrial sector was set at 6.4 percent.

Services Sector

The Services sector has witnessed a growth rate of 5.7 percent as compared to 4.37 percent last year.

Exports

Exports went down to USD18.18 billion. The exports target was set at USD25.5 billion for 2015-16.

Imports

Imports at USD32.70 billion.

Remittances

Remittances amounted to USD16.03 billion this year

Investment

Total investment has reached to the level of Rs 4502 billion

Electricity Generation

Electricity generation and distribution and gas distribution register growth at 12.18 percent.

Reserves

Country’s foreign exchange reserves achieved new record of 21.6 billion dollars.

Tax Collection

The government had planned to push Tax-to-GDP ratio to 12.5pc to collect Rs 3.4 trillion, but it actually achieved 8.4 percent. Government was able to collect Rs 2.3 trillion in 2015-16.

Public Debt

Public debt was recorded at Rs.19,168 billion at end March 2016,registering an increase of Rs.1,787 billion from the previous year.

Inflation

The inflation remained 2.8 percent against the target of 6 percent.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate has seen a decline from 6.2 percent in FY 2013 to 5.9 percent in FY 2015.

Literacy Rate

The literacy rate has improved to 60 percent.

Poverty Rate

29.5 percent of the population is estimated to live below poverty line