Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Tuesday announced that the government had approved GDP growth target of an estimated 3.5 percent for the 2023-24 financial year (FY24).
Addressing a press conference after the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), the minister said that government would spend Rs. 1,150 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2023-24).
The NEC has proposed the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for the FY24 with a total outlay of Rs. 2.709 trillion. “The total national outlay contains the development budget of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for only four months [due to caretaker set up), but if their full budget is included in the ADP, it will exceed the figure of Rs. 3 trillion,” the minister highlighted.
The size of of PSDP 2023-24 includes foreign aid of Rs. 75 billion and PPP/BOT funding of Rs. 200 billion which is 46 percent higher than revised estimates of Rs. 787.2 billion for FY23. Around 52 percent of total allocation has been proposed for infrastructure sector to ensure modern infrastructure and to attract foreign direct investment.
The government also expects inflation to remain at 21 percent during the FY24. It is pertinent to mention here that the consumer price inflation (CPI) for July-May FY23 is at 29.2 percent.
