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ISLAMABAD, June 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan's economy is likely to have expanded by 2.4% in the fiscal year that ends this month after contracting 0.17% during the previous year, the government's economic survey showed on Tuesday, a day before the country's federal budget is unveiled.
The growth estimate is in line with the State Bank of Pakistan's full-year projection. The SBP cut its key interest rate by 150 basis points on Monday, in its first rate reduction in nearly four years as it strives to boost the economy.
Pakistan's current account deficit narrowed sharply by 95% to $200 million in the July to April period of FY24 versus $3.9 billion in the same period a year ago, the survey showed.
The current account registered three straight months of surpluses until April, and May could be another month of surplus, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said.
The government in its monthly economic review at the end of May said it was targeting economic expansion of 3.6% for the new fiscal year starting in July, amid an uptick in economic activity.
Pakistan is in talks with the IMF for a loan estimated to be anything between $6 billion to $8 billion to avert a default for an economy that is growing at the slowest pace in the region.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has publicly expressed his commitment to tough reforms since coming to power in a February election. These would be critical to securing the IMF loan, but high prices, unemployment and a lack of new job opportunities have piled political pressure on his coalition government. (Reporting by Ariba Shahid, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Asif Shahzad, Writing by Swati Bhat, editing by Sudipto Ganguly and Gareth Jones)
