PM chairs meeting of NEC.

Islamabad -- A meeting of the National Economic Council was held under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Monday.

Chief Ministers of all the Provinces and other members of the NEC participated in the meeting.

The National Economic Council approved the Macroeconomic Framework for Annual Plan 2021-22. NEC also approved the GDP growth projections for the financial year 2021-22.

The proposed growth target of 4.8 percent was approved, with sectoral growth targets of 3.5 percent for Agriculture, 6.5 percent for Industrial Sector, and 4.7 percent for the Services Sector.

Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives presented the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for 2021-22.

NEC was informed that the revised estimate for the total development outlay of the ongoing year is Rs. 1527 billion. As against this the total development outlay for the next financial year would be over Rs. 2100 billion, including PSDP of Rs. 900 billion.

This includes Rs. 244 billion for Transport and Communications, Rs. 118 billion for Energy, Rs. 91 billion for Water Resources, Rs. 113 billion for social Sector, Rs. 100 billion for Regional Equalization, Rs. 31 billion for Science and Technology and IT Sector, Rs. 68 billion for SDGs and Rs. 17 billion for Production Sector.

The Council was informed that the focus of PSDP will be on Infrastructure improvement, Water Resources Development, Social Sector improvement, Regional Equalization, Skill Development, promotion of Science and Technology, and IT, as well as Climate Change mitigation measures.

The meeting was informed that the PSDP would cater to the government's plans to increase focus on lagging areas and regions. For this purpose, sufficient allocations have...