ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that the focus of the next federal budget for the financial year 2017-18 would be on achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive growth.
While presiding over the Cabinet meeting on ‘Budget Strategy Paper 2017-20’ in Islamabad, the prime minister directed the Cabinet members to accord priority to the areas under their domain that could lead to improved economic growth and generate additional employment opportunities.
The prime minister said that the government is determined to increase investments in both human and physical infrastructure. He said that in this regard, highest priority would be accorded to increase in development budget and poverty reduction. He said that the time has come for the nation to reap the benefits of the economic policies of the government.
Nawaz Sharif asked members of the Cabinet to suggest measures which would discourage Hundi and other informal channels for money transfers leading thereby to increased foreign remittances through regular channels. He appreciated market capitalisation in the stock exchange that would soon touch $100 billion.
The Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said that the government had devised a medium-term macro-economic strategy to increase foreign reserves and reduce fiscal deficit.
Ishaq Dar said that as per the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitations Act, the fiscal deficit of the federal government would be brought down to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by June 2020.
The minister said that the upcoming budget will demonstrate fiscal prudence while focusing on key investment sectors such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), energy, communications, poverty reduction etc. He said that fiscal prudence will provide impetus to lower inflation, higher investments and low public debts.
The finance minister also said that the government had initiated a study on revaluation of the GDP as many sectors were currently not fully recorded in the national accounts.
For the budget year 2017-18, he said that the government would aim to achieve six percent of economic growth and enhance efforts to increase revenue generation.
The meeting was also informed about the government’s resolve to provide incentives to the farmer community for enhancing agriculture productivity. It was apprised that the prime minister’s agriculture package has yielded positive impact on the agriculture output as demonstrated by bumper crops of sugar-cane, wheat and maize.
The finance secretary on the occasion made a detailed presentation on the current state of the economy, outline of the budget 2017-18 and the medium-term macroeconomic framework.
The finance secretary apprised the members of the Cabinet that despite challenges, Pakistan’s economy was moving in the right direction. He said that the inflation has been contained to 4.09 percent in the first nine months of the current financial year.
Moreover, he said that the credit to private sector has grown by 53 percent and agriculture credit has risen by 23 percent in the first 10 months as compared to the same period last year.
In order to achieve six percent of economic growth, the finance secretary said that the measures will be taken to enhance growth in agriculture, industrial and services sectors of the economy.
