PM chairs NEC meeting today

ISLAMABAD: The meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) will be held Monday (today) at the Prime Minister’s House.

Chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the meeting will be attended by the four provincial chief ministers and representatives of the Federation and provinces.

In the meeting, the development programme for the next financial year will be presented for approval. The development programme of the current financial year will also be reviewed in the meeting.

The National Economic Council will approve economic targets for the new financial year (2024-25). The 13th 5-year (2024.29) plan will be presented for approval in the meeting.

The economic growth target for the next fiscal year is proposed to be 3.6 percent. The economic growth target for the current fiscal year (2023-24) was set at 3.5 percent. The average inflation target for the new fiscal year is proposed to be at 12pc. The average inflation target for the current fiscal year was 21 percent.

A target of 2pc growth for agriculture sector for new financial year is proposed. The target for agriculture for the current financial year was 3.5pc.

The industrial sector growth is proposed to be 4.4pc in the next financial year. The target of industrial sector was 3.4pc for the current financial year.

The services sector growth target in the new financial year is proposed to be set at 4.1pc. The target for this sector for the current fiscal year was 3.6pc. The investment target is proposed to be 14.2pc of GDP. The national savings target would be at 13.3pc in the next financial year. According to sources, the federal government has prepared a five-year (2024-2029) plan for determining important economic goals. Macroeconomic framework has been made part of the plan. The federal government has decided to approve the 5-year plan in the budget of next financial year. Under the five-year plan, important economic goals will be determined.

Sources said macroeconomic framework, energy, balance of payments, development budget, food and agriculture, population, poverty and governance reforms are part of the plan.

The NEC will review proposed public investment for the next financial year. The council will review the federal development programme and provincial annual development plan. It will also review development plan of state-owned enterprises and progress report of ECNEC and Central Development Working Party.