ISLAMABAD, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin on Sunday said government was determined to ensure inclusive and sustainable growth by focusing on development of few targeted sectors of economy including revenues, agriculture, industry and external trade.
Addressing a webinar titled, “Budget 2020: Balancing Stability and Growth” organized by Institute of Policy Reforms, the minister said the government had already constituted Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to evolve development strategies with the help of experts to ensure sustainable growth of about 12 different sectors.
The minister said Pakistan needed inclusive and sustainable growth as few regional countries were experiencing so, he added, a planned roadmap was being developed which the current and successive governments would follow to have consistency in the planning process.
He said it was the first time that government was making such comprehensive roadmap for development of economy since sixties.
The minister said enhancing revenue collection would be the top priority of the government, adding that currently the revenue collection was less than 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
He said the measures already adopted by the government boosted revenues beyond Rs 4 trillion benchmark till now, which he termed historic hoping to raise it to around Rs5. 8 trillion during the next fiscal year.
Secondly, the government would enhance funding of Public Sector Development Programme(PSDP) to Rs 900 billion and this time projects would be launched with Public Private Partnerships to promote growth.
Likewise, he added, agriculture was another prime focus of the government. He lamented that Pakistan was converted from food-exporting to food-importing country, so the government’s focus would be on reversing this trend.
He said there was also need to focus on all agriculture chains, adding that a progressive plan was being put in place with a number of incentives for agriculture reforms.
He said the government was also focusing on making industry more efficient to enhance exports manifold.
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