Islamabad, May 28:

Pakistan’s economy is set to post robust growth of 7.02 per cent in the fiscal year to the end of June, Pakistan’s prime minister Shaukat Aziz said today.

The figure compares with 6.61 per cent last year and is due to growth in agriculture, services and large-scale manufacturing in the Islamic republic of 160 million people, he said. “This is, mashallah (thank God), very robust growth as compared to the last year and this is the result of the government’s economic policies,” Aziz said.

“Our target was seven per cent so this is slightly above that, and it is further going to increase after revision,” added Aziz, a former finance minister and Citibank executive. “We are heading in the right direction.” The figures have been approved by Pakistan’s national account committee, he said.

President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly cited Pakistan’s strong economic growth in recent years as proof that his policies are working. Critics say the economy is propped up by US aid of a reported one billion dollars a year for joining the ‘war on terror’ after Al-Qaeda’s attacks on the US.

Aziz said the average per capita income had also risen to $925 from $833. There was no figure for inflation but “it is our endeavour to reduce it,” he added. Figures for the proportion of people living in poverty, which were at 23.9 per cent two years ago, were also set to drop but have not been finalised, he said. He said the agricultural sector had grown by five per cent on the back of a ‘historic’ wheat crop and a bumper sugar cane crop. Large-scale manufacturing grew by 8.8 per cent, he said.

The total size of the economy is now $146.3 billion, Aziz added.