ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved Rs1.509 billion, including a $25.154 million foreign exchange component, for the procurement of contraceptives, official sources told Dawn.

During its recently held meeting, Ecnec was informed that PC-I for family planning and primary health care (2003-08) was approved at a cost of about Rs21.5 billion. However, it did not include the provision of foreign exchange for the purchase of contraceptives.

During the year 2003-04, contraceptives worth $4.24 million were purchased through the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) in pursuance of anticipatory approval of the Ecnec chairman.

The requirements of contraceptives for five years up to 2008 had been assessed at $25.154 million including $4.240 million already incurred in 2003-04.

Therefore, Ecnec considering the summary submitted by the health division on “requirement of foreign exchange for procurement of contraceptives for family planning and primary health care” has approved Rs1.509 billion for the procurement of contraceptives for the next five years.

According to official statistics, Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) is around 35 per cent in the country which needs to be increased adequately.

According to the Economic Survey, 2004-05, during the last 50 years, the country’s population has increased from 33 million to 152.53 million in 2004-05. Thus making Pakistan the seventh most populous country in the world.

Although the current population growth rate slowed to 1.9 per cent per annum, the overall population has increased by 2.76 million compared to last year. This is still considerably high compared to the average of 0.9 per cent for developed countries and 1.7 per cent for the developing countries.

The government wants to achieve population stabilization by 2020 through the completion of demographic transition.