ISLAMABAD, Jun 17 (APP): The Federal Minister for Planning, Reforms and Special Initiative, Asad Umer on Thursday said the government has provided relief to low income people and underdeveloped regions for achieving inclusive economic development in Budget 2021-22.
“We are committed for inclusive development to remove discrimination among all four provinces, including the marginalized districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Gilgit Baltistan,” Asad Umer expressed these views while addressing the Budget session in the parliament.
The minister said that Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) has granted four major development packages worth Rs 1739 billion for different regions of the country, including Karachi, Sindh and South Balochistan and Gilgit Balochistan for development and prosperity.
He said that the government has also allocated Rs 54 billion for marginalized districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) in this Budget as compared to Rs 24 billion in previous Budget.
About the current economic growth figure, he said that from the last 11 months June to May of current FY 2020-221, the country’s exports growth was observed at 14 percent, remittances increased by 29.4 percent in the last 11 months.
Asad Umer said that at the revenue side worth Rs 4164 billion achieved by 18 percent growth in the last 11 months of current FY 2021-22, which is expected to reach at Rs 4800 billion till July 30 of this FY.
He said that in the last 11 months of this FY, growth in Information Technology exports was observed at 46 percent and 12.8 percent growth observed in Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM).
The minster said the government is committed to provide relief to the Agriculture sector and especially facilitate small farmers.
He said that because of the prudent policies of the current government in this year, Rs 570 billion growth observed in total of crops as compared to Rs 350 billion in PML-N regime.
While briefing on the government efforts during COVID -19 pandemic, he said that the government has allocated Rs 193 billion to acquire coronavirus vaccine from other countries, as already worth Rs 46 billion vaccines provided to the people.
He said that during the pandemic, the government has granted Rs 50 billion to Punjab, Rs 25.4 billion to Sindh, Rs 15.5 billion to Khyberpakhtunkwa (KPK) and Rs 11.9 billion to Balochistan province.
He informed that through ‘Ehsas Programme’ the government has provided Rs 200 billion to 9 million families in the country.
He said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has lowered the interest rate first ever in the economic history of the country and also granted Rs 330 billion in loans through Banks during the pandemic.
While announcing the plans to provide special relief to the people in the coming year, Budget 2021-22, he said the government has decided to provide Rs 0.5 million interest free loan to every citizen in the country.
He informed that Rs 150,000 would also be provided to farmers for each season of the crops and a collective amount of Rs. 300,000 for whole years in the coming Budget.
Asad Umer said that the government has also granted Rs 200,000 interest free loan to the farmers to acquire modern machinery.
The minister said Rs 2 million interest free loans are also provided to the low income people for constructing new houses, adding that the health card is also a landmark achievement of the government.
He said the government has also decided to offer free skills and training programmes to one person from each family, in this regard 140 skills development and 40 agriculture institutes to be established in different regions of the country.
He said that, “We have increased the educational Budget for the coming year from Rs 18 billion to Rs 42 billion and increased the environmental Budget up to 16 percent in PSDP 2021-22.”