New Delhi: With the World Bank forecasting a mere 2.6 per cent GDP growth for Pakistan in 2025-26, the country appears to be stuck in a phase of economic stagnation that has now entered the fifth year of sub-3 per cent growth with mounting unemployment and rising poverty. 

Pakistan risks locking itself into a prolonged phase of economic stagnation, warned economist Asad Ali Shah, as the World Bank’s latest update projects growth at just 2.6 per cent for FY25-26 – following a dismal four-year stretch of weak performance, according to an article in Pakistan’s financial daily Business Recorder (brecorder.com).

Expressing his views on the social media platform X, Asad, the former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Pakistan (ICAP), said: “The World Bank’s latest Pakistan Development Update has revised down the FY25-26 growth forecast to just 2.6 per cent, compared to the government’s more optimistic projection of around 4 per cent.”

“This comes after three years of dismal performance — (-) 0.2 per cent in FY23, 2.5 per cent in FY24, and 2.7 per cent in FY25 — marking what is arguably the worst four-year stretch in Pakistan’s economic history, defined by sustained low growth, record inflation and interest rates, and a collapse in investment confidence.”

Pakistan’s economy has been further hit by catastrophic floods, weighing on agricultural output, and inflation pressures have resurfaced, the article states. The report further noted that Pakistan’s inflation rate dropped to single digits in FY 2024/25, as price increases for food and energy eased. “However, disruption to food supply chains, due to ongoing catastrophic floods, is expected to push inflation up through 2027,” it projected.

Former Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail also echoed similar views, saying that “in terms of growth, these FY22-23 to FY25-26 are the worst four years in Pakistan’s history”. Miftah criticised the government for avoiding key reforms, including privatisation, downsizing ministries, and strengthening local governance, arguing that authorities are instead “purchasing stability through low growth” by keeping interest rates, taxes, and utility tariffs high.

“The result is: increased unemployment, poverty and political alienation.” Meanwhile, Asad maintained that Pakistan’s economy “may have stabilised — but it has not recovered”. The economist pointed out that industrial output remains weak, whereas “agriculture is in deep crisis amid climate shocks and policy distortions, and job creation has stalled”.

“Stability is not success,” he stressed, warning that without credible reforms to restore investor confidence, strengthen governance, and shift resources toward productivity and exports, Pakistan risks institutionalising stagnation as its new normal”.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said that all-India House Price Index (HPI) based on transaction-level data of 18 major cities increased by 3.6 per cent (on-year) in the first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1 FY26). The value of house price index registered a marginal increase in Q1 2025-26, with Nagpur, Chandigarh, Chennai and Kochi registering maximum increase over the last quarter.

“All-India HPI increased by 3.6 per cent in Q1 2025-26 as compared to 7.6 per cent growth in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. On a sequential (QoQ) basis, all-India HPI increased by 2.0 per cent in Q1 2025-26,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

The central bank released its HPI for Q1 2025-26 with a new base year of 2022-23. The earlier base year was 2010-11. The RBI compiles the HPI on quarterly basis based on transaction-level data received from the registration authorities.

The new base year as 2022-23 covers 18 major cities. Eight new cities — Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune, Ghaziabad, Thane, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Chandigarh and Nagpur, have been added to existing 10 cities in the new series with base year 2022-23.

“House is not just an asset but also a durable consumption good for households, providing shelter and other services. A change in the house price affects the households’ perceived lifetime wealth and hence influences the spending and borrowing decisions of households,” according to Central Bank.

An increase in the house price raises the value of the housing relative to construction costs; hence a new construction is profitable when house price rises above the construction costs. Residential investment is, therefore, positively related with house price increase. House prices also affect bank lending and vice versa. Further, house price gains increase housing collateral.

India is gearing up for 6G trials, with global experts at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025 highlighting the country’s growing importance in next-generation network development and international collaboration. Industry leaders and researchers told ANI that India’s push in 6G research and innovation could shape the future of global connectivity.Ashutosh Dutta, Chief 5G Strategist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, told news agency ANI that ubiquitous connectivity would be a defining feature of 6G. “Not everybody has access to cell towers or Wi-Fi, so when these are not available, we fall back to satellite,” he said. Dutta emphasised the need to integrate non-terrestrial and terrestrial networks to ensure seamless communication. “Operators, academics, and service providers should work together to build prototypes, simulations, and testbeds to support different applications,” he added.He also underlined that secure and uninterrupted connectivity will be critical for 6G adoption. “As we switch between access technologies like Wi-Fi and satellite, maintaining security and privacy will be crucial,” Dutta noted, adding that cross-country collaboration on chip development and AI-enabled technologies would strengthen network resilience. “India has real technical manpower and strong government support. What we need is collaboration among academia, industry, and government to develop the future skill set,” he said.Professor Harald Haas, Professor of Engineering and widely known as the “Father of Li-Fi,” said the technology could play a transformative role in India’s connectivity landscape. “Li-Fi can help connect rural communities by building free-space optical communications where fibre is too expensive,” he told ANI. He added that Li-Fi could complement 5G and 6G networks by offering additional data capacity and energy-efficient connectivity. “We can even use solar panels as broadband receivers, harnessing both sunlight and data together,” Haas said, quoted ANI.Echoing the sentiment, Iwao Hosako, Executive at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT), said India is emerging as a major power in communications and software. “India is a very big power because of its industries in communications and software development,” he told ANI. Hosako said Japan sees immense potential to collaborate with India on new services and technologies. “Many talented people from India already work with us, and we hope to expand this cooperation to a higher level, between industries and governments,” he added.