Pakistan Hikes Spending

Pakistan’s government raised spending 4.3% in a bid to accelerate economic growth before elections next year, which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is widely expected to contest for a second consecutive term in office, Bloomberg reported. Sharif approved an annual budget of 5.1 trillion rupees ($49 billion) targeting economic growth of 6% in the next financial year starting July, the highest rate in more than a decade. That’s after his administration undershot an earlier estimate for this year. The fiscal deficit will be reduced to 4.1% next year from an estimated 4.2% this year, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday in Islamabad.