Prime Min
ister Imran Khan Sunday stressed upon the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to cut their non-development expenditures like the federal government, and create job opportunities in those urban areas hit hard by the current coronavirus pandemic.
The prime min
ister said due to COVID-19 pandemic, the economic situation worldwide was unusual. The upcoming fiscal budget was being
presented in this extraor
dinary situation which required that non-development expenditures should be curtailed whereas development expenditures be enhanced.
The prime min
ister was chairing a high-level meeting over the upcoming proposed fiscal budgets of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the year 2020-21, PM office media wing in a press release said.
The meeting was attended by Foreign Min
ister Makhdoom Shah Mahmo
od Qureshi, Min
ister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz, Min
ister for Industries Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Min
ister for Planning Asad Umar, PM’s advisers including Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Abdul Razak Dawood, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Chief Min
ister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, Chief Min
ister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, Punjab Finance Min
ister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, KP Finance Min
ister Taimur Salim Jhagra and other senior officials.
During the meeting, the economic teams of chief ministe
rs of Punjab and KP
presented detailed briefings on the revenue, expenditures and priorities contained in their respective proposed fiscal budgets for the year 2020-21and based upon ground realities.
Addressing the meeting, the prime min
ister underlined the need for specially prioritising those projects and their implementation which would create employment opportunities and move the wheels of economy rapidly.
For ensuring private sectors’ participation to meet the national and provincial development requirements, he also emphasized upon the need for facilitation of private sector to accomplish projects under the public private partnership.
The prime min
ister also directed the provincial governments to specially focus on the development of industrial and agricultural sectors.
The prime min
ister was briefed on the priorities being given in the proposed budgets regarding the special economic zones and promotion of agricultural sector.
The prime min
ister directed the provincial governments to pay special attention on the upgradation projects of health sector, so that the general public could get quality health services. Separately, Punjab Chief Min
ister Sardar Usman Buzdar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Min
ister Mehmood Khan called on Prime Min
ister Imran Khan.