ISLAMABAD, May 18: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the forthcoming budget will provide relief to the common man, improve the standard of life of people and develop rural areas.

Presiding over a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and its coalition partners here on Wednesday, the prime minister highlighted his government’s priorities for the budget.

He said: “Relief for the common man, sustaining economic growth, provision of basic facilities, improving the standards of lives of the people, encouraging agriculture and industry and bringing the underdeveloped areas of the country at par with the rest of the country were major objectives of the forthcoming budget.”

He said the whole world had appreciated the economic performance of Pakistan, and this will augment his efforts and those of President General Pervez Musharraf to improve the image of the country.

Participants on the occasion expressed the confidence that the economic gains of the government would benefit the common man. PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Rao Sikandar Iqbal of the PPP, former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamli, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Abdul Razzaq Thaeem of the PML-F, Haji Orakzai from Fata and other senators and MNAs from the PML and its allied parties attended the meeting.

The lawmakers forwarded their suggestions and expressed their views regarding improvement of the budgetary exercise and provision of funds to various sectors. Premier Aziz said the PML and its allies could go to the electorate in 2007, on the basis of their service to the nation.