October 9, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 2, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: The government has decided to increase the current financial year’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) from Rs 134 billion to Rs 144 billion to spend more on health, education and undertake new development projects.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf here on Tuesday presided over a meeting which reviewed the performance of the first three months of 2002-2003 and approved an increase in the size of the PSDP.

Minister for Finance Shuakat Aziz who briefed the meeting later told Dawn that the purpose of increasing the size of the PSDP by Rs 10 billion was to also provide more funds for urban water supply and drainage schemes.

“Katchi canal project has been inaugurated by the president therefore, we will make available some funds for it during the current financial year,” he added.

He said that some more funding would go to Azad Kashmir government, Fata and Northern Areas. “And we will be extending additional funds for judicial reforms.”

Giving details, the minister for finance said macro-economic performance during the first quarter of 2002-2003 was discussed and the president was told that major economic indicators had been met during this period.

He said issues relating to federal revenue and expenditures, supplementary grants and fiscal targets were reviewed by the meeting. Likewise, he said export/import, tax revenue, foreign exchange reserves, remittances and fiscal deficit were reviewed.

The minister said the president was told that CBR met its Rs 92 billion revenue target of first three months of the current financial year. The limit of government’s bank borrowing of Rs 0.4 billion was also met and the fiscal deficit remained Rs 56 billion during the first quarter.

He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf emphasised the need for continuity of reforms and consistency in policies so that the nation could benefit from the reforms.