The National Economic Council (NEC) on Wednesday unanimously approved six-agenda items, including national development budget worth Rs4.224 trillion for the next fiscal year (FY26), Radio Pakistan reported.
The approval was granted at the NEC meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair and with all the four provincial chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan in the presence.
It was told that Rs1 trillion would be earmarked for the federal and Rs2.87 trillion for the provincial development projects.
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The forum also approved macroeconomic framework and targets for the next fiscal year. The council directed relevant ministries, provinces, and government institutions to work in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning to achieve the targets set in the proposed annual plan for 2025-2026.
The development projects would prioritise health, education, infrastructure, the water sector, and housing, Radio Pakistan reported.
The NEC gave approval to the 13th five-year development plan and the Uraan Pakistan Framework, it said.
As per the details, a third-party monitoring report on the annual National Development Programme was presented, and the meeting decided that future project planning should incorporate the recommendations of the report.
The NEC also approved a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 2.7% for the outgoing fiscal year and a projected growth rate of 4.2% for the next financial year.
During the meeting, revised indicators regarding the performance of the economy in outgoing fiscal year 2024-25 were presented.
The meeting was informed that Rs3.483 trillion was being spent on the annual national development, of which Rs1.100 trillion was share of the federation and Rs2.383 trillion was the share of provinces.
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The meeting was told that remittances increased by Rs30.9% from July 2024 to April 2025 and the current account balance remained positive for the first time.
The fiscal deficit in the year 2024-25 further decreased to 2.6% of the GDP, while the primary balance remained 3% of the GDP after increase.
The policy rate gradually decreased to 11% due to government policies, while loans given for private sector development increased to Rs681 billion from July 2024 to May 2025.
The volume of GDP in 2024-25 will be Rs114 trillion.
