News
Friday, May 25, 2012
NEC approves Rs 873 billion for development* Gilani says inflation has gone down to 11 percent
* Growth rate of 4.3 percent proposed for next fiscal year
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council on Thursday approved the annual plan for the next year 2012-13 with growth rate of 4.3 percent, national development outlay of Rs 873 billion, including federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of Rs 360 billion.
The NEC has increased the federal PSDP size from Rs 350 billion to Rs 360 billion to accommodate additional demands forwarded by the government’s coalition partners.
The NEC met at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. All members, including Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah, KP CM Ameer Haider Hoti, Gilgit-Baltistan CM Mehdi Shah, Senator Ishaq Dar and the Balochistan and Punjab chief secretaries attended the meeting.
Total national development outlay 2012-13 has been proposed for cabinet decision at Rs 873 billion, wherein the federal PSDP would amount to Rs 360 billion. Ministries and divisions have formulated their own development priorities while remaining in their approved ceilings and adopting guidelines of the Planning Commission and the Finance Division. Emphasis has been laid on completion of ongoing priority projects during 2012-13. New projects were discouraged as they may cause thin spread resource allocation resulting in time/cost overrun. It was ensured that foreign assistance was not underestimated. In the total proposed PSDP 2012-13, the size of foreign assistance has been estimated at Rs 100 billion.
The council reviewed and approved the annual plan 2011-12 and 2012-13, review of PSDP 2011-12 and approved PSDP 2012-13, implementation plan of framework for economic growth and progress report of the schemes approved by the CDWP and ECNEC.
While reviewing the annual plan 2011-12 and proposed annual plan 2012-13, the NEC was informed that the performance of the economy during the current fiscal year was satisfactory. The GDP growth is expected to be 3.7 percent as against three percent achieved during the last year.
The size of GDP has been estimated at Rs 20.7 trillion ($ 232 billion). Total investment as percentage of GDP will be at 12.5 percent during the current fiscal year, slightly lower than the revised estimates of 13 percent during the last year mainly due to reduction in the national savings from 13.1 percent to 10.8 percent at the corresponding period of last year. On the external front, exports and imports have been estimated at around $25 billion and $40 billion, respectively with current account balance of 1.7 percent.
The PM announced a decline in inflation to 11 percent and said poor and common man were top priority of the government and vowed to put poor-specific projects at the heart of development process.
At the meeting, he said the government had proposed a GDP growth rate of 4.3 percent for the next fiscal year. staff report/app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk