ISLAMABAD: The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) on Wednesday completed drafting a development programme worth Rs2.158t for the upcoming year. This represents an increase of 29 pc over the current year’s Rs1.675t outlay.
This point out that federal and provincial governments have reserved substantial funds for development schemes next year, in a bid to win over public support just ahead of general elections scheduled next year.
However, it may be a rare opportunity that the APCC would approve only the development projects. It would neither review the performance of macroeconomic indicators (annual plan performance) for the current year nor would it set these macroeconomic targets for the next fiscal year, something which has been a permanent part of the APCC agenda. This has been caused by the postponement of a meeting of the national accounts committee that was originally called two days ahead of APCC meeting.
The meeting to be presided over by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal would be attended by finance and development ministers of the provinces, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa representing tribal region, the prime minister of Azad Kashmir and chief executive of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Sources are reported to have said that the overall size of the public sector development programme (PSDP) for 2017-18 of the federal government is expected to be Rs1.001tr as opposed to Rs800 billion during the current year. This represents an increase of 25pc.
The provincial governments would also set their cumulative annual development plans higher than the current year’s allocations–they are expected to be Rs1.158tr against Rs875bn allocations for the current year, a rise of 32pc.
The country’s consolidated development expenditure for next year has been estimated at Rs2.158tr, about 29pc higher than the current year.
Sources are further reported to have confirmed that a meeting chaired by Iqbal on Tuesday finalised the list of projects with a total outlay of Rs862bn, in addition to requesting the prime minister about an additional list of projects to increase it to Rs1.001t in a bid to make available maximum funds in the last fiscal year of the current government.
The additional allocation of Rs138b was to be reserved for settlement of internally displaced people of the restive tribal region and Prime Minister’s Youth Programme.
Of the Rs862b, the federal ministries and divisions would be allocated an amount of Rs280b against current year’s share of Rs237b, showing an increase of 18pc.
A major allocation of Rs389b has been proposed for major corporations like National Highway Authority and Wapda and other power sector projects, which are at the centre of $54b China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. This combined head would also stand jacked up by about Rs50bn when compared with current year’s Rs322b.
Similarly, another major chunk of Rs46b has been estimated for Prime Minister’s Global SDG Achievement Programme schemes. The amount has more than doubled from current year’s allocation of Rs20b.
Similarly, special areas like Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and States and Frontier Regions would be given about Rs64b next year compared with Rs48b of the current year, showing an increase of 12.5pc. To add to that, another Rs26b has been allocated for gas schemes.
Sources are reported to have said that the annual plan for next year and review of current year’s macroeconomic indicators would be presented directly to the National Economic Council (NEC) headed by the pm along with a finalised development plan for formal approval.
The NEC also comprises of provincial chief ministers, key federal ministers, the AJK prime minister, Gilgit-Baltistan’s chief executive and KP governor.
As per the Constitution, the NEC must formally approve the country’s annual development programme and macroeconomic framework. The federal cabinet led by the prime minister then approves budgetary proposals for presentation before parliament.
