ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Friday said that economic indicators of the country are highly positive and growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next fiscal year is estimated at six percent. Briefing the media in Islamabad, he said “Agriculture sector has performed significantly during the current financial year with a 3.5 percent growth and it is expected that in the next year its performance will be better.” He said “Agriculture sector performed due to incentives given by Nawaz Sharif to farmers including credit facilities, subsidy on fertilizers and electricity bills.” He said “Manufacturing sector also contributed satisfactorily and after the provision of uninterrupted gas and electricity has triggered the growth of industrial sector.” He said “Development budget has been enhanced three times and over two trillion rupees are being allocated for the next year. An amount of Rs 404 billion is being allocated for infrastructure projects which will be spent on roads and railways network.” He said “Development budget for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has been enhanced to 24 point five billion rupees while budget of Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) also being doubled from ten to twenty billion rupees. Similarly, budget of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has also been enhanced from nine billion to fifteen billion rupees.” The minister further said “Budget for Higher Education Commission (HEC) will be 35 billion rupees to promote education sector. The social sector development budget has also been increased from 90 to 135 billion rupees while special measures are being proposed for the growth of IT sector.” He said “Rs 80 billion have been proposed for the projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Development projects worth seventeen billion rupees will be completed in Gwadar.” He said “The GDP growth during the current financial year remained at 5.3 percent” adding that 15.8 percent growth has been witnessed in investment which is higher than previous years. He said “The prime minister has requested all four provinces to plan out funding for AJK, GB and FATA which are also part of federation.” Ahsan said “Hefty amount is being provided for the drastic changes in Radio Pakistan and PTV.”