LAHORE, June 5: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has said the Punjab budget will be ‘people-friendly’.

The chief minister told reporters after the graduation ceremony of Lahore American School at Alhamra Hall on Thursday that the government was taking loan from the Asian Development Bank for resource management and structural adjustments.

Regarding structural adjustments, he said the government would take loan on one per cent interest to repay the federal government loan, which was obtained on 19 per cent interest. As the federal government loan’s interest rate was very high, the other three provinces had taken loans from the World Bank at 0.7 per cent interest.

He said the government was trying to arrange Rs33 billion for resource management and structural adjustments. It was also negotiating with other financial institutions, he added.

Mr Elahi said the Punjab Assembly issue was overplayed. The government accepted the right of the opposition but it did not mean that they disrupted assembly proceedings. The speaker took action according to the rules, he continued.

He said the government would soon prepare a strategy for the next assembly session with a positive mind frame. It was the duty of every member to coordinate and work jointly, he maintained.

The chief minister said the budget session date would be announced after the announcement of federal budget on June 7.

Replying to a question, he said Shujaat Husain was negotiating with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on LFO and other issues. Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also called him by phone, he concluded.