ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected 1.5 percent Pakistan’s GDP growth for the current fiscal year 2021 and 4 percent for the next fiscal year 2022 in its World Economic Outlook update for January 2021 uploaded on its website on Tuesday.

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) states that although recent vaccine approvals have raised hopes of a turnaround in the pandemic later this year, renewed waves and new variants of the virus pose concerns for the outlook.

Many countries, particularly low-income developing economies, entered the crisis with high debt that is set to rise further during the pandemic. The global community will need to continue working closely to ensure adequate access to international liquidity for these countries. Where sovereign debt is unsustainable, eligible countries should work with creditors to restructure their debt under the Common Framework agreed by the G20, the IMF’s WEO concluded, according to IMF.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021