Chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body has approved an Rs. 2.1 trillion development budget for the financial year 2021-22 with the allocation of Rs. 31 billion for the development of Science and Technology.
The funding for Science and Technology development seems to be in line with PM Khan’s Digital Pakistan vision announced in 2019.
It was also decided that the provinces would spend Rs1.2 trillion from their own resources for public development projects while the federal government will allocate Rs. 900 billion for the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
Some of the other fund allocations include:
- Nearly Rs. 509 billion out earmarked for infrastructure development in the housing, water, and transport sectors
- Rs. 244 billion allocations for transport and communications
- Energy sector allocation of Rs118 billion.
Allocations have also been made for the health and education sector, the production, and agricultural sector, CPEC, transport and communication projects, railways, Ten Billion Tree plantation program, and Special Economic Zones (SEZ).
