Per capita income falls to $1,071

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s per capita income fell to $1,071 in 2008-09 compared to $1,102 in the previous fiscal year, show official figures, which will be released in the upcoming Economic Survey for 2008-09, but available with The News.

Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin, when contacted on Wednesday for comments, said depreciation of the rupee against the dollar and decline in real gross domestic product growth caused the drop in per capita income in fiscal year 2008-09. “Pakistan will have to return to growth in order to show improvement in per capita income in the years ahead,” he added.

He said rupee stability could help boost per capita income, but the country required real GDP growth of 5 to 6 per cent per annum for achieving sustained progress on the economic front.

Discussing the factors behind the fall in per capita income, official sources said the real GDP growth touched 2 per cent in accordance with the initial assessment done by the National Accounts Committee (NAC) a few days ago while the rupee fell 30 per cent against the dollar in the current financial year. The rupee dropped from Rs60 a dollar to Rs80 just in a few months in 2008-09.

Population growth was 1.9 per cent per annum while real GDP growth came to around 2 per cent, meaning a negative growth in per capita income in 2008-09.

Per capita income is treated as one of the major indicators suggesting the depth of growth and general well-being of any country.

Per capita income, defined as gross national product at current market price in dollar terms divided by the country’s population, has grown at an average rate of around 13 per cent per annum during the last five years rising from $586 in 2002-03 to $926 in 2006-07 and further to $1,085 in 2007-08, initial estimates show. According to final figures of 2007-08, per capita income increased to $1,102.

Real per capita income in rupee terms increased by 4.7 per cent, on average, in the last five years. Real per capita income grew by 4.2 per cent as compared to 4.8 per cent last year.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=178609