Govt urged to up agri spending

KARACHI: National Assembly of Pakistan before passing the Finance Bill 2020 should include meaningful initiatives for the agriculture sector to support economy in ongoing pandemic and revise the target of 2.8 percent growth for the fiscal year of 2020-21, an industry official said on Wednesday.

“In the light of Pandemic where we witnessed a sharp decline in services and industrial sector, in this crises agriculture would be a only hope to uplift the dwindling economy and we expect that government put extra measures for the agriculture in the budget and set a target of at least 3.5 percent, but utter disappointment may visibly be seen after listening to the speech,” said Ahmad Jawad,

Secretary General (Federal) Businessmen Panel, in a statement.

He said agriculture sector –the backbone of national economy and a major source of employment– recorded a significant growth of 2.67 percent in the outgoing fiscal year 2019-20 compared to a poor 0.58 percent in FY19.

“It was expected the government would announce an encouraging policy for the agriculture sector in the federal budget to help boost the economy but all such hopes were dashed,” Jawad said.