- Nawaz asks cabinet to suggest measures to discourage Hundi, informal channels of money transfers
- Dar shares medium-term macro-economic strategy to increase foreign reserves, reduce fiscal deficit
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that focus of the next year’s budget would be on achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive growth.
He 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. Chairing the cabinet meeting on the ‘Budget Strategy Paper 2017-20,’ he said that the government was determined to increase investments in both human and physical infrastructures.
In this regard, 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 economic policies of the government. The prime minister asked the cabinet members 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. Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar said that the government had devised a medium-term macro-economic strategy to increase foreign reserves and reduce fiscal deficit. As per the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitations Act, the fiscal deficit of the government would be brought down to 4% of GDP by June 2020, he said.
The upcoming budget will demonstrate fiscal prudence while focusing on key investment sectors such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), energy, communications, poverty reduction etc, he said and added that fiscal prudence would 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 2017-18, he said that the government would aim to achieve six percent of the 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 sugarcane, wheat and maize.
On the occasion, the finance secretary made a detailed presentation on the current state of the economy, outline of the budget 2017-18 and the medium-term macroeconomic framework. He apprised the members of the cabinet that Pakistan’s economy was moving in the right direction, despite challenges.
He said that the inflation has been contained to 4.09% in the first nine months of the current financial year. He said that the credit to private sector has grown by 53% and agriculture credit has risen by 23% in the first 10 months as compared to the same period last year. In order to achieve six percent of economic growth, he said that the measures would be taken to enhance growth in agriculture, industrial and services sectors.
