Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired a meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) at Prime Minister’s Office today. The meeting approved enhancement of sanctioning powers of development fora of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and FATA. Accordingly, sanctioning limit for Development Working Party (DWP) of the three regions has been increased to Rs. 400.000 million while the Development Committees (DC) would be authorized to sanction the development expenditure upto Rs. 1.000 billion. The meeting was briefed on achievements made so far during the 11th Five Year Plan (2013-2018). Highlighting various achievements made during the period, it was informed that besides improved law & order and overall energy situation, 7653 MW have been added till December 2017 to the total installed capacity of 20,000 MW available in 2012-13. The meeting was informed that 3,163 MW new capacity will be added by June 2018. Highest level of indigenous oil production at 100,698 bbls/day was witnessed as compared to 76,000 bbls/day in 2012-13. Discussing economic gains made during the 11th Plan, it was informed that the average annual growth rate of GDP which stood at 3.0% in 2012-13 increased to around 5% with decade’s highest growth rate of 5.3% in 2016-17. Industrial out-put growth rate increased from 2.7 to 5.6% with 9 years highest industrial growth of 5.8% in 2015-16. Growth rate of the manufacturing sector rose from 1.6 to 5.0% and the large scale manufacturing grew from 0.6 to 4.7%. The inflation rate which stood at an average of 12% was brought down to 5.2% during this period. The meeting was informed that early harvest projects of CPEC project were on track with 42 projects being implemented through PSDP 2017-18. Highlighting large public investments made during the 11th Five Year Plan, the meeting was informed that 1415 billion were invested in the energy sector during 2013-18 as compared to Rs. 706 billion in 2008-13. The investment in road sector rose from Rs. 218 billion to Rs. 850 billion. It was informed that Rs. 118 billion were invested in Higher Education Commission as compared to Rs. 86 billion during 2008-13. The meeting was informed that the total national development outlay was increased from Rs. 1.042 trillion to Rs. 2.247 trillion. Federal PSDP allocation increased from Rs. 425 billion to over Rs. 1.000 trillion and public investment to GDP ratio increased from 3.5 to 4.3%. The meeting was also briefed on socio-economic objectives for the next Five Year Plan along with provincial priorities which would be aligned with national level objectives. The NEC while approving socio-economic objectives of the 12th Five Year Plan (2018-2023) authorized Planning Commission to prepare draft plan in consultation with the provincial governments and other stakeholders. The meeting reviewed Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2017-18 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) National Framework. The NEC approved SDGs National Framework and provisional sustainable development goals and targets. The NEC advised the provincial governments and federal ministries/organizations concerned to align their policies/plans and allocate required resources in line with national framework. The meeting also directed provincial governments to set up institutional mechanism at the district level for achieving sustainable development goals. ***
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