Pakistan Economy - News & Updates - Archive

[Neo]

23 April 2006

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan will have to rely on foreign resources if domestic fiscal efforts remain muted due to the likely impact of increasing oil prices on inflation, according to an official report. Prepared by the Planning Commission and made available to Dawn, the report warns that higher oil prices in the medium term could eventually create problems for Pakistan, like many other developing countries, especially those which were not categorised as Highly indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).


These countries were being forced to seek increased foreign assistance, either commercial or concessionary, to finance increasing social sector spending to achieve their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The report "Millennium Development Goals 2005" said that in an environment of higher interest rates, the goal of debt sustainability is partly compromised once again. Thus either the pace of foreign exchange earnings must continue to rise via unhindered exports or they must be financed by depleting foreign reserves to maintain debt sustainability. The latter policy option again impacts the volatility of the exchange rate and thereby the inflation rate.

 

[Neo]

By Moinuddin Ahmed

Despite massive spending on development projects during the last five years, Sindh failed to register a dent in high unemployment. Unemploment has actually gone up and the province stands next to Balochistan in this regard while Punjab and NWFP have witnessed a drop in unemployment over the same period.

Estimating employment levels is not easy, more so in Pakistan where records are poorly maintained in most sectors.

The latest government statistics reveal that the rate of unemployment in Pakistan had come down from 8.3 per cent in 2001-02 to 6.9 per cent by January this year. The government also claimed that during the period from July 2004 to September 2005, it has created a record 5.54 million new jobs. This has been possible after huge investment in infrastructure, agriculture, telecommunications, information technology and housing sectors.

According to the Labour Force Survey 2003-04, the overall jobless rate of the country fell by 0.6 percentage points. However, the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan saw an increase in unemployment. The survey revealed that Sindh saw an increase in the jobless rate that touched 5.87 per cent as compared to 5.17 per cent in FY02. In Balochistan the jobless rate increased to 8.38 per cent against 7.60 in FY02.

The unemployment rate in Punjab and NWFP during the period under review declined and stood at 8.52 per cent and 13.2 per cent, respectively.

The Sindh minister for labour, industries and commerce was not available for comment despite repeated attempts by Dawn to seek his views on the issue. But an official on condition of anonymity said that the Labour Force Survey (LFS) was based on sampling that was not a credible methodology. He felt that there some fundamental flaws in the assessment technique. For example, daily-wagers and seasonal workers were braketed with fully employed persons.

“The method of sample surveys may be an authentic method of assessment in the developed countries where literacy rates are high and where results of a survey of 100 randomly selected people may be good enough a measure to get a feedback, but this criterion cannot be applied in our country where people of different areas have different status, literacy rates, values and problems,” the official explained.

An important factor that could have contributed to higher unemployment in Sindh is the ban on government jobs for the last over 10 years. However, this cannot be the key factor as the public sector offers a fraction of new jobs as compared to the private sector.

Pakistan’s total labour force stood at 45 million in the year 2005. Out of this 30.13 million was in the rural areas and 14.87 million in the urban areas. Rural employment is estimated at 27.19 million and employment in urban areas is placed at 13.41 million in 2005. According to the survey, the country’s total unemployed labour force was estimated at 3.84 million in 2005.

The province-wise data showed a wide variation in female economic participation, with the highest rate in Punjab at 15.6 per cent and the lowest in Sindh at 4.6 per cent. Women’s economic participation in the NWFP was 6.9 per cent and in Balochistan it was 4.8 per cent.

According to the figures of the department of manpower and training, during the period from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005, a total number of 146,585 unemployed persons were registered at all employment exchanges in the province, including 153 ex-servicemen, 7,912 women and 138,520 men. Out of this, 28,201 were placed in gainful employment by the employment exchanges.

During the same period, 28,240 vacancies (64 government and 28,196 private) were notified by 5,309 employers (36 government and 5,273 private) to the employment exchanges in Sindh.

There is a total of 19 employment exchanges in Sindh. They operate on a voluntary basis. “There should be a permanent regulatory body that could evaluate and find venues for new openings both in private and public sectors. Multinational companies often go unchecked as they fill their vacancies from outside sources without intimating the employment exchanges,” the official added.

A district-based Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey carried out in Sindh from October 2003 to January 2004 showed that the unemployment ratio in men aged between 15 and 24 stood at 33 per cent in Karachi and 26 per cent in the rest of Sindh. The total jobless ratio of men and women of the same age group was calculated at 32 per cent in Karachi and 26 per cent in the rest of Sindh. The estimate shows that about 1.3 million young men and women are jobless in Karachi and 1.5 million in the rural areas of Sindh.

 

[Neo]

Sindh and its nerve centre, Karachi, hold a lot of interest among investors in construction activities and buying of property despite the fact that Punjab has a much larger population and offers more friendly policies to builders.

Being a port city, Karachi has higher property rates than Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi owing to investors’ choice for the destination.

However, it has been noticed that some investors have bought huge land along the Super Highway leading to Hyderabad for initiating mega housing projects in the private sector.

According to the Chairman of the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), Hafiz ur Rahman Butt, Pakistan needs to build 7.5 million houses a year in order to meet the burgeoning demand.

Of this number, 40 per cent is for Karachi alone because of its importance as the port city and a large number of migrations take place every year from various parts of the country to the metropolis, he said.

Lahore’s population is estimated at 10 million but it cannot compete with Karachi in any respect, he added. There have not been many projects announced by the builders in Lahore as compared to Karachi and other parts of Sindh like Hyderabad.

Construction activities depend mostly on the population of any city. There are more construction activities in Karachi and Hyderabad than Lahore and Islamabad/Rawalpindi.

Mr Butt said that the building rules in Punjab were friendly and much more relaxed than in Sindh. There have been some problems as the provincial government takes too much time in clearing frozen lands.

He said in Punjab, the private sector had been encouraged to boost housing sector but in Sindh the Board of Revenue looks after property issues. The Sindh government holds the auction of property and sometimes it does not release the plots and property which they allot to the parties. — ASK

 

[Owais]

USA Ambassador, CG visit Port Qasim KARACHI: US Ambassador in Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker and US Consul General Ms Marry H. Witt visited Port Qasim here Saturday and discussed trade related issues with officials of Port Qasim Authority.

Chairman PQA, Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi briefed them about the development plans of PQA that included deepening and widening the navigation channel for mother ships, direct foreign investment in the construction of new terminals -- liquified petroleum gas terminal and liquid cargo terminal- and in various other industrial and commercial units at Port Qasim, says PQA statement.

Pakistan and US have signed the declaration of principles on Integrated Cargo Container Control (IC3) Programme , a trade security agreement.

The IC3 programme envisaged joint screening of US-bound containerized cargo from Pakistan via a live video link by custom authorities of Pakistan and US.

The US customs would not re-examine the screened cargo on its arrival at US ports.

The Federal Cabinet had already approved the implementation of IC3 programme and allotted five acres of land at Port Qasim to Central Board of Revenue for this purpose.

Under the declaration of the IC3 programme, the Government of Pakistan would safeguard its export interest to US markets by ensuring the security arrangements of cargo containers at Pakistan ports.

The programme would serve the purpose of container security initiative (CSI) and mega port initiative (MPI) of the US Government to ensure secure cargo supply chain to the US here in Pakistan.

The IC3 at Port Qasim would not only reduce the cost of exports but to save time in completing export orders

 

[Owais]

Contract to install GIZ desalination plant awarded GAWADAR: The contract for the installation of the desalination plant at Gawadar Industrial Zone (GIZ) for converting 0.2 million gallons per day of saline water into potable has been awarded to Siddique Sons.

Gawadar Industrial Estate’s project director, M. B. Magsi told Geo News that this project costing about Rs60 million would be completed in six months.

He told that Wapda has been provided 7 acres of land free of cost for the construction of a 24 Megawatt Grid Station, which would be supplying electricity to the industrial estate, while Sui Southern Gas was being contacted for the supply of gas.

Industrial Estate project has been planned over a sprawling 2000 acres of land, where the setting up of units detrimental to environment would be prohibited.

M. B. Magsi told that textile, engineering, pharmaceutical, chemical, steel re-rolling, flourmill and warehouse projects has thus far been proposed for set up.

 

[Owais]

ADB plans to computerize its entire system ISLAMABAD: Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) president, Rashid Akhtar Chughtai said that the bank would be entirely computerized in next 28 months.

Talking to Geo News here, he said that presently most of the ADB works were being done manually, which has proved to be quite irksome for the borrowers. He said that the Asian Development Bank was also providing assistance in the entire computerization of the bank’s system.

He vowed that the ADB would be turned around into a commercial and profitable organization sans subsidy.

Rashid Akhtar Chughtai told that the ADB would be providing Rs350 millions agriculture loans under micro-credit scheme.

 

[Owais]

Cotton production target set at 13.8 million bales MULTAN: Federal committee for agriculture has fixed the target for cotton production from next crop at 13.8 million bales.

Multan Central Cotton Research Institute’s Director General, Mohammad Islam Gill told that the cultivation process in the province of Punjab has already been kicked off in the backdrop of this production target.

Countrywide area of cotton cultivation has also been set at 3.25 million hectres i.e. 8.25 million acres. Province-wise cotton productions set targets are: 10.58 million bales by cultivating on 2.56 million hectres in Punjab, 3.13 million bales on 0.64 million hectres in Sindh, 0.1 million bales on 0.040 million hectres in Balochistan and 0.1 million bales by cultivating on 0.010 million hectres.

Cotton last year was cultivated on 3.1 million hectres, while the target for production was set at 13 million bales, which is about to be met.

He told that cotton cultivations in some areas have picked up, but the silver fibre cotton cultivation on large scale would kick off from May 1, which might continue mid June and even beyond.

 

[Neo]

Sunday, April 23, 2006javascript:; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2006\04\23\story_23-4-2006_pg1_1

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday that he has accepted the difficult challenge of constructing Kalabagh Dam, a challenge no previous ruler of Pakistan had dared to take on.

Seventy-eight percent of Pakistanis support the construction of the dam and the people opposed to it have no logical argument against it, he said at the National Students’ Convention 2006, organised by the Higher Education Commission.

“I have travelled extensively in Sindh and not a single person gave a logical argument as to why he was against the construction of the reservoir. Everybody says they have no trust,” Musharraf said. He said experts believed that the only way to rehabilitate the barren lands in Sindh was for a certain amount of water to flow downstream of Kotri, and this was only be possible if more water was available. “Leadership ... sometimes has to swim against the waves,” he said.

Responding to questions from students about Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policies, the president said that the situation in Balochistan was quite different to that of East Pakistan in 1971. Only a few tribal chiefs, whom he called “opponents of development”, were involved in sabotage activities, he said. “I know the military strategy well. The East Pakistan situation was different where there was a mass uprising of 80 million people. The representatives of these sardars in the parliament are misleading the people,” Musharraf said.

He said none of the sub-tribes of the rebel Baloch sardars were with them. He said the rebel tribes were getting foreign funding and had a strong force of 5,000 men, each getting a Rs 6,000 per month salary.

He said rebel tribal chiefs Akbar Bugti and Khair Baksh Mari had “feasted on” government money from gas royalties, while the salaries of people employed from their tribes had been going into the personal accounts of the tribal chiefs. With the past governments’ “funding and exploitation of their own people”, the tribal chiefs grew stronger, he said.

The levies system supervised by the sardars is being replaced with a police system, and the government is trying to convert 95 percent of the ‘B areas’ of Balochistan into ‘A areas’. Fourteen districts have come under A areas now, he said. The government has started major development projects worth Rs 125 billion in the province and is now starting several smaller projects, he said.

Gen Musharraf said the government would spend Rs 10 billion each year on the development of the tribal areas. In response to a student who criticised the government’s foreign policy, with special reference to 9/11, he said no nation in the world enjoys sovereignty in real terms and sometimes leadership has to take bold decisions. “A country cannot demand respect if you are a failed, intolerant and extremist nation. Emotionalism should not cloud logic,” he said.

“We criticise our own country. Our own women malign us when they go abroad. I know there are problems. But they should be discussed here. Speak here, not abroad. This is my biggest worry,” he said.The government plans to open six new engineering universities by 2008 where industry-related subjects will be taught, he said.

The president urged students to fight terrorism, extremism and sectarianism. He said the Muslim Ummah looked towards Pakistan for leadership as it was the only Islamic nuclear power.

“You must fight terrorism and extremism. There is no place for terrorism and extremism in Islam,” he said. Everyone is entitled to his or her views, but using mosques and imambarghas for extremism is not acceptable, he added. He said chapters in Islamiyat textbooks which promote sectarianism will be removed. “You can never impose a change. It is an evolutionary process. It is a change of mindset ... Only socio-economic change will bring about empowerment of women and it has to be a gradual change.”

 

[Neo]

Sunday, April 23, 2006javascript:; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2006\04\23\story_23-4-2006_pg5_5

LAHORE: South Korea has a lot of potential in information technology and Pakistani IT experts can learn a lot from their Korean counterparts and win the global market in a big way.

Mr J Jang, head of a five-member South Korean delegation, expressed these views during his visit to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Saturday. LCCI President Mian Shafqat Ali and Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra also spoke on the occasion.

Mr Jang, who looked quite impressed with the progress made by Pakistani IT experts, said that all over the world big IT firms joining hands and Pakistan must not stay behind.

The South Korean delegation comprises Eugene Park, JunSeok Park, SeungMin Chun and YongJun Yoo. They asked a number of questions about the IT situation in Pakistan.

The leader of the delegation spoke at length and threw light on pros and cons of South Korean technology.

LCCI President Mian Shafqat Ali said that the present government was taking a special interest for the upgradation of information technology and had already allocated a big fund.

He said that there are many things, which we can learn from the Korean experience of development, particularly in the field of information technology, automobile manufacturing, mobile phones, electronic goods and equipments, cool chain system, etc.

He said information is a key to success and future growth. This technology has emerged as the fastest growing sector in Pakistan. According to conservative estimates, there are about 300 software houses based in Pakistan, which are busy in developing, and exporting software to the developed world. The fields in which these companies are involved are virtually unlimited.

More and more opportunities are being thrown open to them every passing day as their skills, potential and strategic advantages are getting accepted in major software markets around the world. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, as a vast potential still exists for the local IT industry to become a formidable force in the global arena.

LCCI Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra said South Korea is one of the highly developed countries in Southeast Asia, while Pakistan is on the route to progress and once the two countries join hands with each other the situation would be totally otherwise.

He said Pakistan's IT industry has everything. A modern and rapidly expanding telecommunication system, experts from various disciplines, highly skilled and cost effective workforce - all this backed by an unmatched investment package offered by the government of Pakistan. However, software developers and top-notch IT experts do not get high salaries in Pakistan resulting in brain drain. This has resulted in slow growth of IT in Pakistan. The real potential of IT applications has not been realized. If South Korean companies could come into direct investment or if they engage in joint ventures, not only will the growth of IT increase in Pakistan, but also the brain drain will slow down.

 

[Owais]

Pakistan tea importers reach India’s Tamil Nadu ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Pakistan tea importers reached India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu to see prospects of tea import.

Pakistan is the second largest consumer of tea in the world.

Pakistan imported 82 million kg tea from Kenya and 9.2 million from India last year. Meanwhile about 40 million kg tea was smuggled into the country from other sources.

Pakistan’s traditional tea source Kenya was hit by drought, which has forced the South Asian country to see towards other tea exporting countries to meet at least 50 million KG shortfall.

Pakistan has already reduced import duty on Indian tea from 35% to 10% to boost bilateral trade with the neighboring country.

 

[Neo]

Sunday, April 23, 2006javascript:; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2006\04\23\story_23-4-2006_pg5_14

LAHORE: Telenor Pakistan has officially opened its GSM mobile network for commercial service in 34 more destinations within a month of its last expansion on Pakistan Day.

The new destinations include Ghakhar, Kotla, Kahna Nau, Zahirpir, Sadiqabad, Allu, Ahmadpur East, Dunyapur, Karorpakka, Burewala, Layyah, Pindi Gheb, Jand, Basal, Goliana, Dhudyial, Batkhela, Thana, Tarbela, Matiari, Qazi Ahmad, Mirpur Mathelo, Ubaro, Moro, Daulat Pur, Dharki, Hyderabad-Matiari Highway, Moro-Nosheroferoz Highway, Mirpur Mathelo-Ubaro Highway, Muzaffargarh-DG Khan Road, Ahmadpur-Sadiqabad Road, DG Khan-Taunsa Road, Qazi Ahmed-Dalatpur Highway and Burewala-Arifwala Road.

 

[Neo]

Sunday, April 23, 2006javascript:; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=2006\04\23\story_23-4-2006_pg5_4

LAHORE: A delegation of US business leaders, headed by Jay Collins, Chairman of the US-Pak Business Council, will visit Pakistan from April 24 to 26 to explore investment opportunities with the Pak Private Society.

This visit schedule of the American delegation was conveyed to Pak-S Business Council chief Iftikhar Ali Malik by Esperanza Gomez Jelalian, Executive Director of the US-Pak Business Council.

Senior representatives of Boeing company, Citigroup, Cisco Systems, Coca-Cola and Merck will be part of the visiting delegation. They will meet members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry and hold key meetings with leading Pakistani businessmen.

Iftikhar Malik termed it a positive response to President Musharraf’s recent address to the US Chamber of Commerce.

 

[Owais]

S&T promotion and HRD strategised: President ISLAMABAD (April 23 2006): President General Pervez Musharraf has said the promotion of science and technology (S&T) and human resource development has been strategised for the fast-paced progress of the country.

He was addressing the Students Convention 2006, organised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) here on Saturday. Musharraf said six world class universities of science and technology would be established in the country with the assistance of renowned institutions of higher learning from Europe, Japan and Korea.

He said these institutions of higher learning will have linkages with the industry aimed at harmonising the higher education and industrial growth. These institutions of excellence would greatly help in robust industrial growth and start yielding results in 10 to 15 years, he added.

The President said an Information Technology University would be set up in Abbottabad and the land has already been allocated to he Higher Education Commission in this regard.

He referred to the phenomenal increase in the educational sector budget, and said that Rs 22 billion has been allocated for the promotion of primary, secondary and higher education, and would have enormous impact in enhancing the literacy level which currently stands among the lowest in the world.

The President said 265 PhDs have returned from the United States to take part in the development of the country in various spheres. Musharraf said the government is fully focused on providing quality education in the less developed parts of the country which were neglected in the past, adding a new university would be set up in Multan for the benefit of the southern Punjab which lags behind in quality educational situation.

Answering to various questions, raised by students, the President said we have to achieve gender empowerment through step by step approach as it would be an evolutionary process.

He said political and economic empowerment which is a way forward for the women, adding over 30,000 women are holding positions of power at various tiers of the government, including the Senate, the National Assembly and the local governments.

Referring to several mega development projects being undertaken in Balochistan, Musharraf said Rs 125 billion is being spent on various scheme, including highways for the fast pace progress of the province.

He said Rs 100 million each for all the districts of the province has been allocated for the socio-economic uplift of the people at the grassroots level.

He said a strategy has been finalised for the overall progress of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Rs 10 billion would be spent on its various development projects per annum.

Regarding construction of new water reservoirs, Musharraf said to meet country's growing energy needs for sustained socio-economic progress, new dams will be built. This would also help in increased flow downstream water for the benefit of tail-end growers, especially in Sindh, he added.

About the reconstruction of the quake-ravaged areas in NWFP and Azad Kashmir, the President said the government would rebuild houses and infrastructure on modern lines.

He said over Rs 25 billion has been disbursed among the quake survivors and efforts of Pakistan in dealing with the natural calamity of massive magnitude have been praised by the international community as a text book example.

The United Nations has also appreciated the handling of the earthquake tragedy by the government, the nation, the armed forces and the NGOs, he added.

On country's status in the comity of nations, the President said Pakistan has created a respectable place in the comity of nations as a leading country of the Ummah. He said Muslim states look upon Pakistan to provide leadership in these challenging times on the world stage.

Musharraf, however, stressed the need for removing misperceptions about Pakistan being an extremist stand in tolerance society. He said that in today interdependent world, no country enjoys complete sovereignty. He said greater interaction in trade and commerce with the world community would greatly help Pakistan to move on the path of economic growth.

The President exhorted the youth to have complete faith in the country and be proud of it and discard any pessimism, saying: "We must instil right in ourselves being Pakistanis and take the country, which has immense resources and talent, forward on the road to progress and prosperity."

The President also gave away the prizes, shields and certificates to the students who excelled in various debates.

The President renewed Pakistan's unswerving commitment to fighting off extremism and terrorism through a holistic strategy and emphasised that menaces will have no place in the country.

"We have to fight both extremism and terrorism as they retard progress - there is going to be no room for the menaces in Pakistan's future," he declared.

The President told the nation-wide gathering of students and faculty that incidents like bomb blast in Nishtar Park, Karachi, impacted the image of the country and portray the Pakistani people as divided into sects. He urged students to extend their support to efforts aimed at containing and curbing extremism.

"You must lend support to efforts aimed at curbing extremism - we must stop those misusing loudspeakers at places of worship and check those who spread hate material," he said.

 

[Owais]

THE RUPEE: rates fall versus dollar, euro in open market
RECORDER REPORT KARACHI (April 23 2006): The rupee failed to show any reluctance in shedding its value versus the dollar following the surging demand for the greenback, dropping three paisa for buying at 60.18 and slipping by two paisa for selling at 60.22, dealers at the open market said on Saturday.

The rupee shed 10 paisa versus the euro for buying and selling at Rs 73.70 and Rs 73.80, moneychangers said.

In the world markets, the dollar showed little change versus the major currencies, dealers said.

OPEN MARKET RATES: Firmness prevailed in interbank market amid smooth supply of the greenback so the rupee held its overnight level for buying and selling at 60.00 60.02, dealers said.
================================Buying Rs 60.18Selling Rs 60.22================================

 

[Neo]

From MEHTAB HAIDER

ISLAMABAD - The government has decided to provide more funds to the provinces in next budget besides existing share in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for major projects.

“The new NFC Award will provide additional Rs 52 billion to the provinces in the next budget 2006-07 and will enable them allocate more funds for development projects,” said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz while addressing the participants of ECNEC meeting here on Saturday.

After the meeting, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Dr Akram Sheikh told journalists in a Press briefing that the country is set to achieve its growth target within the range of 6.5 per cent during the current fiscal despite two shocks in shape of earthquake and unprecedented hike in oil prices.
“The government provided support of $1 billion to absorb oil shock in last one year,” he added.

He said the federal government would continue normal provincial share in PSDP for next fiscal year despite providing more funds to them under the new NFC Award.

“We will provide indicative figures for provinces share in PSDP in next budget,” he said while answering a query about abolishing provinces share in PSDP in the wake of providing more funds to them in the new NFC Award.
Dr Sheikh said the ECNEC approved 22 projects with total cost of Rs 53.7 billion in Saturday’s meeting out of which 10 projects belonged to Sindh, 3 for Punjab, 2 for NWFP, 1 for Balochistan, 2 for Islamabad and 4 allover the country.

He said the APCC and NEC are expected to meet by last week of May 2006 and all development projects of next year have already been approved at the forum of ECNEC in order to avoid delay on their implementation. “We will be able to utilize 95 per cent allocation of PSDP during the current fiscal year out of total allocated money of Rs 272 billion,” he added.

Earlier, in his address during the ECNEC meeting, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said better fiscal management enabled the government to allocate unprecedented amount of funds for the development projects.
The government has allocated funds for the construction of roads, dams, bridges; the top priorities of the government also include improvement in facilities of education, health, sanitation, safe drinking water to people throughout the country, the Prime Minister said. He said education is the key to development and the government is focusing on improving educational facilities at all tiers.

The premier said that the development expenditure was instrumental in creation of jobs, decline in poverty and overall economic uplift of the country. The amount of development expenditure to GDP ratio was enhanced to 3.9 per cent this year from 2.6 per cent last year. He said in the next budget government would further increase allocation for development projects.
He said that this year all sectors of economy are exhibiting growth and the government will meet 6-8 per cent annual growth target. He said that PSDP utilisation has shown an upward trend. In the first quarter, PSDP utilization was 60-65 per cent and by the end of financial year over 90 per cent development funds are expected to be utilised.

Shaukat Aziz said that planning Division would be restructured to transform it from a reactive to a pro-active organization. Its monitoring and evaluation wings will be further strengthened to improve implementation of projects.
The ECC also approved clean drinking water for all with total cost of Rs 7871.740 million, institutional enhancement to implement Karachi mega city project Rs 799.840 m, procurement for fire fight vehicle for Islamabad Rs 725.268 m and Japanese assisted rural roads construction project Rs 3736.890 million.

On infrastructure side, the ECNEC approved tranmission scheme for dispersal of power frm 2X50 MW Wind Mall power plant at Mirpur Sakro with total cost of Rs 816 million, Indus Highway (N-55) phase-III with cost of Rs 6283.930 million, bridge over Malir river connecting Shah Faisal Colony with Korangi sector with cost of Rs 1007.243 million, construction of Sohrab Goth interchange with cost of Rs 579.949 million, construction of Sibi-Rakhni road with cost of Rs 1484.104 million, widening and remodelling of roads and intersection of Islamabad airport from Jinnah Park Chowk to Flying club Rs 1221.437 million and Islamabad-Muzaffarabad road Rs 8241.500 million.
On health side, the meeting approved National Tuberculosis Control program (2005-10) with cost of Rs 1184.412 million, establishment of accident & emergency and ancillary service complex at civil hospital Karachi Rs 1438.403 million, provision of MRI&CT scanner for civil hospital Karachi, Chandka Medical College Larkana, People Medical College Nawabshah and Liaqat University Hospital Hyderabad/Jamshoro Rs 564 million, strenghtening of Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences Rs 587 million, Punjab Municipal services improvement project Rs 3540 million, purchase of equipments for National Institute of Cardiovascular disease Karachi Rs 658.625 million.