Pakistan, July 4 -- State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad on Friday projected that the country's economic growth will be higher than the government's provisional growth number at 3.7% for FY26.

Speaking at a press conference, Ahmad said that the country's GDP growth is expected to be around 3.75-4.75% in FY26.

"Earlier, we expected GDP growth of over 4%, but due to the ongoing Middle East crisis, the growth is expected to be lower than that," he said. During FY26, Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves, held by the central bank, surged to $18.4 billion, up from $13 billion registered in FY25.

"The FX has increased despite a debt repayment of $8 billion in June alone," he said.

Ahmad said the preliminary numbers suggested th...