By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistan’s government on Tuesday said the country’s GDP had seen record growth of 5.3 percent.

Per capita income increased to $1,629, according to government data.

During a briefing to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other cabinet members, Finance Division officials said that during the current fiscal year GDP recorded increased growth.

Large-scale manufacturing achieved 5.6 percent growth and the fiscal deficit was reduced by 5.8 percent as percentage of GDP.

Almost 8,300 new companies were registered during the current year while FDI witnessed an increase of $2.4 billion in financial year 2016-17.

The World Bank in recent reports predicted that Pakistan's GDP growth in fiscal year 2017 was expected to climb to 5.2 percent, the highest in nine years and that the growth rate would continue to accelerate, reaching 5.5 percent in fiscal year 2018 and 5.8 percent in fiscal year 2019.

Local economists said the reports showed FDI was mainly being led by China.

“The growth figures are close to the global estimation but the recently released census figures add a question mark to the credibility of the increase in per capita income," Hayat Khan, an Islamabad-based economist, told Anadolu Agency.