The National Economic Council approved country’s consolidated development budget of Rs 2.5 trillion for the upcoming financial year 2017-18, showing the highest-ever increase in the overall national outlay. Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said that the allocation included Rs 1,001 billion Federal Public Sector Development Programme, Rs 1,112 billion provincial PSDP while Rs 400 billion would be spent by various corporations to carry out their development projects.The minister said that Rs 411 billion would be spent on infrastructure development, Rs 43 billion for different projects of Railways, Rs 404 billion for energy while Rs180 billion would be spent on projects related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The minister said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during the NEC meeting advocated for devising a mechanism for providing funds to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas to help their development at par with other areas of the country.Ahsan Iqbal said that the funding for AJK block in the upcoming PSDP has been enhanced from Rs 12 billion to Rs 22 billion, for Gilgit-Baltistan from Rs 9 billion to Rs 12 billion while an additional package of Rs 3 would also be provided for Gilgit-Baltistan, hence taking the total funding to Rs 15 for this region. He said that the development funding for FATA has also been increased from Rs 21 billon to Rs 24.5 billion.The minister said that the social sector was given importance in the development budget, financing for which has been increased from Rs 90 billion to Rs 153 billion. The planning and development minister said that in order to promote higher education and lead the country towards development, the budget for Higher Education Commission has been increased from Rs 21 billion in 2016-17 to Rs 35.5 billion in 2017-18. He said that the government also envisaged establishing of university campuses at district levels across the Country within 3 years. The minister said that Rs 17 billion has been specifically approved for Balochistan to improve communication system and for different water related projects. For upcoming year, the minister said that the NEC approved 6 percent GDP growth target, with agriculture developing by more than 3.5 percent, manufacturing by 6.4 percent, services sector by 6.4 percent, while inflation would be curtailed at 6 percent. The minister said that the investments would go up from current 15.8 to 17.2 percent, exports were projected to reach $23.1 billion, adding that with the performance based incentives for export sector, the target could be revised upwards. During the current fiscal year the GDP was recorded at 5.3 percent which is the highest in last decade and it is good news for Pakistan that its economy was put on recovery. The economy is now showing marked improvement and back on track. It is also encouraging that government has increased its development expenditure. This will put positive impact on the economy and will be also be helpful in creating jobs. The provinces have shown some reservations for not including their projects. We hope that government will resolve their issues. It is also good news for the people of AJK and GB that their development budget is being doubled. The fair utilization of the development budget will not only improve the infrastructure but it will also increase the quality of life of the people.
