ISLAMABAD: The National Economic Council (NEC) on Monday approved the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projections for the financial year 2021-22, including the proposed growth target of 4.8%. The sectoral growth targets approved for the next fiscal included 3.5% for agriculture, 6.5 % for the industrial sector, and 4.7 % for the services sector. The National Economic Council, which met here with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, approved the Macroeconomic Framework for Annual Plan 2021-22. Chief Ministers of all the provinces and other members of the NEC participated in the meeting. Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives presented the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for 2021-22. NEC was informed that the revised estimate for the total development outlay of the ongoing year was Rs. 1527 billion. As against this, the total development outlay for the next financial year would be over Rs. 2100 billion, including PSDP of Rs. 900 billion. This includes Rs. 244 billion for Transport & Communications, Rs. 118 billion for Energy, Rs. 91 billion for Water Resources, Rs. 113 billion for Social Sector, Rs. 100 billion for Regional Equalization, Rs. 31 billion for Science & Technology & IT Sector, Rs. 68 billion for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Rs. 17 billion for Production Sector. The Council was informed that the focus of PSDP would be on Infrastructure improvement, Water Resources Development, Social Sector improvement, Regional Equalization, Skill Development, promotion of Science & Technology, and IT and Climate Change mitigation measures. The meeting was informed that the PSDP would cater to the government’s plans to increase focus on lagging areas and regions. For this purpose, sufficient allocations have been made for projects of South Balochistan, various districts of Sindh, as well as for Gilgit Baltistan. Allocations have also been made for infrastructure projects of the southern districts of Punjab. Similarly, an allocation of Rs. 54 billion has been made for the newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the Social Sectors, Higher Education Commission has been allocated Rs. 42 billion. NEC was informed that with the operationalization of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Authority, several PPP projects were also being expeditiously processed for implementation. These include Sukur-Hyderabad Motorway and Sialkot-Kharian Motorway, which were at an advanced stage. While other major projects such as Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), KPT-PIPRI Freight Corridor, Kharian – Rawalpindi Motorway, Balkasar – Mianwali Road, Quetta – Karachi – Chaman Highway were also likely to be launched during the year. The government has, for the first time ever, made an allocation of Rs. 61 billion in PSDP for financing the viability gap of PPP projects to ensure that PPP projects can be successfully implemented. Addressing the meeting, the prime minister emphasized increasing the pace of implementation of development projects to ensure that the gains made through stabilization of the economy could be translated into economic growth resulting in the well-being of the people of Pakistan.