ISLAMABAD: Set to enter the final year of its tenure, the government on Wednesday hinted at a populist budget for 2017-18 with a focus to facilitate people and incentivise the business sector.

Presiding over a meeting to review preparations for the next fiscal’s budget, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar said, “The government would accord top priority to the wellbeing of the people in the budget for 2017-18”.

“The budget would also focus on measures for further improving ease of doing business and increasing financial inclusion in the country,” said an official announcement quoting Mr Dar.

The minister said the upcoming budget would be finalised keeping in view the primary aim of achieving higher, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Informed sources said the finance minister is expected to brief the federal cabinet on broad outlines for the new budget on March 2 and seek their proposals for consideration along with guidance from the prime minister.

The sources said the government would announce a series of development schemes and provision of electricity and gas connections to be undertaken during the next year.

Mr Dar reviewed the budget calendar and progress on of preparations, under which, all the ministries are required to submit their final estimates of federal government receipts and budget estimates for next year.

Under the calendar, meetings of Priorities Committee would be held in the first week of April to fine tune estimates for expenditures and revenues. Following this, meetings of the annual plan coordination committee and national economic council would be convened in the last week of April and first week of May respectively.

The finance minister is aiming to announce the federal budget on May 26 in the National Assembly.

An official statement said Secretary Finance Tariq Bajwa provided an update on the state of budget preparations and coordination with different ministries and departments in this regard.

He said all stakeholders including economic experts, chambers of commerce and industries, business and traders community would be taken on board while finalising the budget.

He said a proper mechanism for in-depth liaison with these stakeholders had already been devised and all budget activities would be undertaken according to the timelines given in the schedule.

The minister has already started budget related meetings with the military leadership regarding their financial requirements and assured them all their needs would be met including increase in normal defense budget by about 10 per cent besides separate allocations for operations against terrorists across the country including Punjab. Besides, additional funds would also be provided for security enhancement and development in the federally administered tribal areas, in addition to allocations for fool-proof security to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2017