12th Five-Year Plan envisages GDP growth at 5.4 percent, outlay likely Rs 11.75 trillion

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Khusro Bakhtyar has said that 12th Five-Year Plan envisages an average growth of GDP at 5.4 percent and expected outlay will be Rs 11.750 trillion including Rs 1.0 trillion involving innovative financing through public-private partnership.
The minister expressed these views while chairing the Economic Advisory Council on the draft of 12th Five-Year Plan here on Friday. Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce & Industry Abdul Razak Dawood, members Economic Advisory Council, Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, Secretary BISP Ali Raza Bhutta, Chief Economist Ejaz Wasti, Members Planning Commission and senior officials of all sections of the ministry were present in the meeting.
According to the sources, the members of Economic Advisory Council also showed concerns and said the targets of five-year plan are ambitious and not realistic. They said the targets which have been set are less as compared to the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. They also gave proposals to bring changing in the Plan about the sectors of tourism, poverty alleviation programmes, agriculture sector etc.
The sources said the meeting decided that 12th Five-Year Plan would be reviewed on quarterly basis. They said that after every six months, the finance minister would also chair the meeting to review 12th Five-Year Plan and its targets might be changed. They said the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform would brief Prime Minister Imran Khan on five-year plan annually.
The sources said that Prime Minister Imran Khan would visit Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform in the coming second week and he would be briefed on the five-year plan. They said that a comprehensive briefing would be given to the Prime Minister on 12th Five-Year Plan before presenting it to the National Economic Council (NEC) for approval.
They said that during the meeting, Dr Atta-ur-Rehman and others experts also gave proposals on the five-year plan through video links. Dr Att-ur-Rahman proposed to enhance capacity building from school level to university level. The proposals were also given to make new education policy, a uniform education system by introducing a uniform syllabus and curriculum.
The minister said that 12th Five-Year Plan has extensively covered growth, macro-stability, expansion in agriculture production, galvanization of agro-business potential, industry and export competitiveness, human resource development, integrated energy planning, infrastructure development, social safety nets, poverty reduction, achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and administrative reforms along with focus on less-developed areas, climate change and environment.
Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan gave a comprehensive briefing on the draft 12th Five-Year Plan. Makhdoom Khusro said it had been decided to conduct quarterly reviews of the plan at the ministry and bi-annual reviews would be made by the Prime Minister for its effective implementation in achieving all the set targets. He stated that priority would be given to projects related to infrastructure development, transport, housing, communication, energy and water sector.
He said the Plan envisages an average growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 5.4 percent, adding the expected outlay of the Plan would be Rs 11.750 trillion including Rs 1.0 trillion involving innovative financing through public-private partnership.
The minister said that development strategy also entails boosting the country's exports as well as envisages a mechanism to monitor the progress of ongoing projects. He added that the Plan aimed at improving productivity of all sectors of the economy. He said that the government was committed to ensuring timely completion of all ongoing projects without any cost escalation.
Khusro appreciated the macroeconomic framework prepared by the Planning Commission. He said the Plan emphasised on socio-economic development, poverty reduction, job creation, equal development of all regions, and industrial and agriculture sectors.
Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan said that Plan document had been prepared through extensive consultative process involving dialogue with stakeholders and formal consultation with the members of different working groups formulated for different sectors. So far more than 30 sessions had been held with stakeholders for preparing the draft of the next Plan, he said. He apprised that after taking the input and suggestions from the members of the Economic Advisory Council, the Plan will be placed before NEC for consideration and approval.