Pakistan to spend Rs2.1 trillion on development projects

Islamabad: Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body has approved a Rs2.1 trillion development budget for the financial year 2021-22. This indicates an increase of 61 per cent as compared to the current year’s allocation of Rs1.32 trillion.

Chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) decided that the provinces would spend Rs1.2 trillion from their own resources for public development projects while the federal government has allocated Rs900 billion for the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

Allocations

* Nearly Rs509 billion out of Rs900b is earmarked for infrastructure development in the housing, water and transport sectors. * The allocation for transport and communications is Rs244 billion while energy sector’s allocation is Rs118 billion. * Around Rs91 billion (10 per cent) has been reserved for water resources to address the severe water scarcity issue by supporting large multipurpose dams particularly Diamer-Bhasha, Mohmand and Dasu dams. * Around Rs113 billion has been allocated for the social sector, including Rs28 billion proposed for the health sector and Rs42 billion for the education sector. Science and technology will get Rs31 billion, SDGs Rs68 billion and the production sector Rs17 billion. * The agriculture sector has been given Rs12 billion. The proposed allocation for the Ten Billion Tree plantation programme is Rs14billion for next year. * The proposed allocation for projects under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is Rs87 billion including Rs78b for transport and communication projects, 42 billion for western alignment, Rs6.2b for Karachi-Peshawar Mainline (ML-1) railway project and Rs7b for Special Economic Zones (SEZ). * A total of five special packages proposed by the government for regional equalisation with a total allocation of Rs133b include Rs54b for the development of merged tribal districts and Rs45b for AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pakistan’s government has set a 4.8 per cent GDP growth target for the financial year starting on July 1. Officials said the country is on course to achieve 3.94 per cent GDP — more than double the IMF’s and World Bank’s projection. The next year’s growth target of 4.8 per cent is to be achieved through 3.5 per cent growth in agriculture, 6.5 per cent in industry, and 4.7 per cent in the services sector, an official statement said.

Infrastructure

The focus of PSDP is Infrastructure improvement, water resource development, social sectors, skill development and promotion of science, technology, and IT sectors, as well as climate change mitigation measures.

Sharing the details of the total development outlay, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said 40 per cent of funds have been earmarked for energy, transport and communication.

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