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Govt approves Rs 873 billion for PSDP 2012-13

Dunya News

The National Economic Council has approved Rs 873 billion for Public Sector Development Programme.

The National Economic Council (NEC) which met here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved Rs 873 billion for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2012-13), with focus on water and power, social sector, health education, job creation and food security, for the socio-economic prosperity of the country.Talking to media after the NEC meeting here on Thursday, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that government has planned a balanced development approach to equally develop Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas with other parts of the country.The Minister said that the NEC also reviewed the progress of Federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of Rs 300 billion during the outgoing financial year 2011-12 and it was observed that 170 big development projects have been completed with 100 percent releases for the projects.During the last four years, National Development Expenditure has been Rs. 2.2 trillion, including Rs 1 trillion by the Federal Government. Our Government increased the size of development expenditure from Rs 416 billion in 2008-09 to Rs 710 billion during the current fiscal year. This shows an average annual increase of 19.5% during this period.The government was able to achieve growth rate in the range of 3.4% during the last two years. We know that this growth rate is not sufficient to achieve the overarching targets of poverty reduction and enhancing employment opportunities. For that we need at least a consistent GDP annual growth of over 7% over a long period of time.He said that the government is proposing a GDP growth rate of 4.3% for the next fiscal year, which is quite achievable due to the base provided by the Government.Another positive development is the falling inflation rate. The CPI which witnessed increase of 20.8 percent during 2008-9, is now reduced to around 11 percent. Similarly the food inflation has been brought down from 23.7 percent in 2008-09 to around 11 percent during the current fiscal year and estimated to be in single digit by the end of next fiscal year.