Summary Under the PSDP‚ an allocation of 107 billion rupees has been made for energy sector.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Explaining salient features of the Public Sector Development Programme‚ Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the programme worth 1‚155 billion rupees is aimed at ensuring higher growth rate.
This includes 540 billion rupees development programme for the federal government and 615 billion rupees for the provinces.
Under the PSDP‚ an allocation of 107 billion rupees has been made for energy sector. WAPDA will invest 118 billion rupees on electricity development projects in addition to 225 billion rupees private sector investment in this sector.
In the communication sector‚ 105 billion rupees have been allocated including 63 billion rupees for National Highway Authority and 31 billion rupees for Railway.
An amount of 59 billion rupees has been set aside for the construction of new water reservoirs.
The allocation of 25 billion rupees for education sector development programme is in addition to over 18 billion rupees for Higher Education Commission‚ over 2 billion rupees for science and technology and 10 billion rupees for Earthquake Rehabilitation Authority.
Under new PSDP‚ 25 billion rupees have been allocated for National Health Services. Five billion rupees have been earmarked for development activities under Tameer-e-Pakistan Programme.
Similarly‚ 43 billion rupees will be provided for development activities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir‚ Gilgit-Baltistan and Tribal Areas.
Under the PSDP‚ 115 new development projects will be launched in various sectors during the next financial year.
The GDP growth rate for the next financial year has been set at 4.4 percent with the contribution from agriculture 3.7‚ industry 4.8 and services 4.5 percent. Gross National Product has been targeted at a growth rate of 12.8 percent while per capita income is projected at 146‚445 rupees.
Efforts will be made to control inflation rate and the current level of investment will be enhance from 14.2 to 15.1 percent of GDP.
With gradual improvement in the security environment and power generation foreign direct investment is expected to increase up to 13.3 percent and national savings upto 14 percent of GDP.
The strategy of monetary policy during the next financial year will be to ensure price stability and provide support to economic growth by improving implementation monetary policy and operation framework. Similarly balance of payment in trade is also expected to improve due to better availability of energy supply coupled with high targets set in strategic trade policy framework.
Exports have been projected to grow by 5 percent upto 26.6 billion dollars and imports to increase by 7.1 percent upto 43.3 billion dollars. Therefore‚ trade deficit has been projected by 16.7 billion dollars.
