ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council (NEC) Wednesday decided to order the closure of markets across the country at 8:30 pm to save energy.
The NEC took the decision during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The meeting was attended by chief ministers of all provinces.
All four provinces have agreed to the proposal of closing markets at 8:30 pm to conserve energy, according to a statement.
The NEC also approved the national development outlay of Rs. 2.184 trillion and growth and revenue targets set by the government for the next fiscal year 2022-23.
The growth rate for the next fiscal year has been set at 5%, lower than that of the ongoing year of 6%. While the growth in the current fiscal year has been attributed to rising imports, the target set for the next year indicates that the economy would contract and inflation my rise.
The government has set the inflation target at 11%, slightly higher than the 10.5% inflation estimated for the ongoing fiscal year.
The total federal budget outlay is likely to be set at Rs9.5 trillion.
The government is setting an ambitious target for tax collections at Rs7.255 trillion. This comes after the tax collection in the current years grew by 6.1% to an estimated Rs5.83 trillion, according to Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).
The non-tax revenues have been estimated at Rs1626 billion.
The defense budget for the upcoming fiscal year has been set at Rs15.86.The government intends to allocate Rs578 billion for subsidies and Rs530 for pensions.
In the total development outlay of Rs2.184 trillion, the federal share will be Rs800 billion through Public Sector Development (PSDSP).
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated at Rs78 trillion, around 16.5% higher than Rs66.95 trillion in the current fiscal year.
The budget deficit has been estimated at Rs4.282 trillion which would be covered by external loans.
President Arif Alvi on Tuesday approved the constitution of NEC under Article 156 of the Constitution.
Under the constitution, the prime minister is the chairperson of the NEC while the chief ministers of all provinces are its members.
Additionally, the prime minister appoints four members, and one member each is appointed by the chief minister of each province.
