ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to move up to 4.8% in the financial year 2021-22.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Friday, the minister said that the government’s sensible economic policies have started yielding positive results, and the four percent growth has surprised everyone.
“The government is taking all steps to incentivize investors for promotion of industrialization and exports in the country, he added. The minister, going over the government’s progress in the current fiscal year said, IT exports showed growth of 46% in the nine months of the current fiscal year.
The country had witnessed a strong growth Umar said, adding it is expected that the remittances would shoot up from $21.7 billion to $29.1 billion till the year-end an increase of 34% in a year.
He said “If we combine the 3.94% GDP growth and the augment in remittances, it will take the gross national product (GNP) growth to 6.5% the “highest” GNP growth in the last 16 years.”
Asad Umar said this year’s $25.2 billion worth of exports were the country’s uppermost numbers in the last 10 years. “It is adverse that the backbone of the economy, exports faced numerous delays during the previous year,” he regretted.
The federal minister said next year’s target for exports, $26.8 billion, would be the highest in the country’s history. The government was aiming at taking up the exports and expanding the IT sector, he said, adding: “The IT exports increased by 46%, he added.
The minister said that the government has invested in the agricultural sector which will significantly gain the economy. The livestock industry had also been harmfully impacted by COVID-19, however, in the next fiscal year, it will move towards normalization, and growth in this sector, too, will be visible, he hoped.
Umar said electricity consumption was expected to grow by 6percent, and after the government had assisted and announced a package for this sector, their power consumption had gone up 15 percent during the current fiscal — and in the next year, it is predicted to rise further.
He informed that Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) stood at Rs650 billion this year, and the government has increased it to Rs900 billion for the next fiscal year a vast increase of Rs250 billion. Asad Umar said growth in 2020-2021 indicates that in the next fiscal year, the growth will be more than expected.
Giving an indication of the development spending for the next fiscal year, the minister said these foresee road infrastructure projects including Hyderabad-Sukkur motorway.
The packages announced for Karachi, and select districts of Sindh and Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan will be financed from the PSDP, he said.
Likewise, funds will be provided from the development plan for the construction of dams, the planning minister said. Rs28 billion will be allocated for health, Rs37 billion for the HEC and Rs5 billion have also been set aside for the skills education programme, he informed.
