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Finance finalises poverty reduction, growth facility

TAHIR DHINDSA

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry has finalised the poverty reduction and growth facility (PRGP) about which a detailed briefing will be given to Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday.

Official sources told Business Recorder on Saturday that the government had formulated the outline of the paper which would be used for dual purpose of implementing social sector development programme and negotiating expected $3 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Chief Executive will be briefed for two purpose, sources said, so that he could include the programme in his March 23 address to the nation and that a highest level commitment to the programme is pledged. Once the highest level commitment to the programme is shown the negotiations with the IMF will become easy, sources believed.

The paper has been written after getting inputs in details from different policy advisory bodies, which were constituted soon after the appointment of the economic team headed by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

The paper has also emphasised the development of value addition in industry so that employment generation could take place. Sources have said the government is looking forward to develop those industries, which are labour-intensive and have employment opportunities so that issue of unemployment could be tackled.

The paper has stressed in its second part the ways and means of bringing macro-economic balance in economy. Sources said that conservative macro-economic benchmarks would continue to figure prominently in economic policy framework and its implementation. " If the macro picture does not improve the development will be ruined," they said.

To support the policy initiative of the government the Planning Commission of Pakistan is doing numerical work. Initially, the caloric definition of poverty has been adopted for the paper. But the sources said, gradually it will be replaced by the `basic need approach' definition.

The incidence of poverty according to the first definition is about 33 percent at the moment, which according to the second definition is about 40 percent.

Already Rs 1 billion has been allocated for the micro credit ban and Rs 15 billion poverty reduction programme has already been started.