ISLAMABAD: The national budget for fiscal year 2012-13 is scheduled to be presented in the National Assembly on Friday (June 1). Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will announce the budget 2012-13, after its formal approval from the Federal Cabinet, sources in the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. Enhancing revenues to minimise dependence on the external finances, cutting down the government expenditures, enhancing productivity through a new growth strategy and job creation, will feature in the upcoming budget.
The budget will also address the issues of energy generation, social sector development and revenue enhancement, besides reforms will also be introduced for improving governance and boosting private sector investment. Amid domestic and international challenges, the realistic GDP growth target will be 4.3 percent while in the outgoing fiscal year 3.7 percent GDP growth is likely to be achieved against the target of 4.2 percent. The growth in FY 2012-13 will be achieved through improvement in productivity and competitiveness, reforms in the markets, promoting cities as regional clusters, improve connectivity, reforming the civil service, institutions and Public Sector Entities, harnessing potential of youth and embarking on result-based management.
The agriculture growth during the upcoming fiscal year 2012-13 is projected at four percent, manufacturing at 4.1 percent while the services sector will grow at 4.6 percent. This year, the budget will also focus on infrastructure, human capital, promotion of investments and exports and agriculture sector development. Emphasis will also be made to normalise agriculture activity and maintaining good performance in services sector. The government is keen to provide relief to the people in the budget and has taken comprehensive measures to achieve this objective.
The National Economic Council (NEC) has already approved a development budget of Rs 873 billion Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the year 2012-13, with Rs 360 billion as Federal component and Rs 513 billion provincial component. Under the PSDP allocations, priority would be given to the completion of projects, maximum utilisation of foreign loans and balanced development while only high priority new projects would be introduced. Out of the total Rs 513 billion allocations for the provinces, Rs 206 have been allocated for the Punjab, Rs 188 billion for Sindh, Rs 78 billion for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Rs 41 billion have been allocated for Balochistan.
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