PM-led NEC sets economic growth rate target at 4.8 pc for FY22

ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council (NEC) led by Prime Minister Imran Khan set the economic growth rate target at 4.8 per cent for the next fiscal year, ARY News reported on Monday.

A meeting of the National Economic Council was held under the chair of PM Imran Khan in Islamabad today which was attended by the chief ministers of all the provinces and other members of the council.

Macroeconomic Framework for Annual Plan 2021-22 has been approved by the NEC during its latest session. Moreover, the council approved the gross domestic product (GDP) growth projections for the financial year 2021-22.

The proposed growth target of 4.8 per cent was approved with sectoral growth targets of 3.5 pc for agriculture, 6.5 pc for the industrial sector and 4.7 pc for the services sector.

Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives presented the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for 2021-22.

The council was informed that the revised estimate for the total development outlay of the ongoing year is Rs1527 billion. The total development outlay for the next financial year would be over Rs2100 billion including a PSDP of Rs900 billion.

It will include Rs244 billion for transport and communications, Rs118 billion for energy, Rs91 billion for water resources, Rs113 billion for the social sector, Rs100 billion for regional equalization, Rs31 billion for the science and technology and Information Technology (IT) sector, Rs68 billion for SDGs and Rs17 billion for the production sector.

The NEC was informed that the focus of PSDP will be on infrastructure improvement, water resources development, social sector improvement, regional equalization, skill development, promotion of science & technology, and IT, as well as climate change mitigation measures.

The meeting was informed that the PSDP would cater to the government’s plans to increase focus on lagging areas and regions.

For this purpose, sufficient allocations have been made for projects of South Balochistan, various districts of Sindh, as well as for Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

Allocations have also been made for infrastructure projects of the southern districts of Punjab. Similarly, an allocation of Rs54 billion has been made for the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). In the social sectors, Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been allocated Rs42 billion.

The economic council members have been apprised that with the operationalization of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Authority, a number of PPP projects are also being expeditiously processed for implementation.

The projects include Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway and Sialkot-Kharian Motorway, which are at an advanced stage. While other major projects such as Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), KPT-PIPRI Freight Corridor, Kharian – Rawalpindi Motorway, Balkasar – Mianwali Road, Quetta – Karachi – Chaman Highway are also likely to be launched during the year.

The federal government has made an allocation of Rs61 billion in PSDP for financing the viability gap of PPP projects for the first time ever to make sure that PPP projects can be successfully implemented.

Addressing the meeting, PM Imran Khan emphasised on increasing the pace of implementation of development projects to ensure that the gains made through stabilisation of the economy could be translated into economic growth resulting in the well-being of the people of Pakistan.