He was chairing a meeting held here on Friday to review the country's current and medium term fiscal situation as part of the budget making exercise for the forthcoming fiscal year. The meeting was attended by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Minister of State on Finance, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Finance Secretary, Economic Adviser and other high ranking officials of the concerned ministries and divisions.
The Prime Minister emphasised that to sustain a 6 to 8 percent growth momentum Pakistan will need to spend more on a strengthening physical and human infrastructure for which a substantial amount of resources will be required.
With on going reforms in tax system and tax administration in the CBR along with buoyant nature of domestic economic activity the collection of adequate resources to support infrastructure development as well as to meet other expenditure requirements should not be difficult, he said.
The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Finance and CBR to device a strategy to generate resources consistent with the country's expenditure requirements and priorities for the medium term. On the expenditure side the Prime Minister emphasised the need for enhancing efficiency of government expenditure by timely completion of projects.
He also stressed the need for prioritisation of expenditure so that the benefits of such expenditure should reach the common man of the country in shortest possible time. The structure of expenditure for the forthcoming budget as well as for the medium term must reflect the government's priorities, ie strengthening of physical and human infrastructure, rural development, poverty and social sector related program and defence, he added.
The Prime Minister stated that he would be taking similar type of presentations from other line ministries so that the government's priorities can be aligned with the expenditure pattern of these ministries. The Prime Minister also stated that Pakistan's economic fundamentals are gaining strength, which has been acknowledged by global investors who are upbeat on Pakistan's future economic outlook. Therefore there is a need to maintain growth momentum in a stable macroeconomic environment, he added.