PAKISTAN may fall into a recession due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and the economy might shrink 2.2 per cent, a World Bank report has said.
It also predicted a steep fall in per capita income.
The total death in Pakistan due to COVID-19 has touched 100 on Tuesday (14) with 5,812 patients.
Earlier, the global body had estimated that the country would grow one per cent in 2019-20.
The World Bank projected a decline in Pakistan's national output in the range of 1.3 to 2.2 per cent.
“Pakistan, which has already experienced low growth rates in recent years, could well fall into a recession”, noted the report. With 1.8% population growth, that would imply a painful decline in per capita income, it added.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Imran Khan has admitted that Pakistan was a nuclear state but it was strange that it could not make its own ventilators and test kits and had to import them.
Pakistan has a population of 212 million.