ZAHEER ABBASI

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin has started taking inputs from various departments of the Finance Division ahead of presenting of FY2021-22 federal budget. Sources on condition of anonymity said that the finance minister has taken briefing from external finance wing of the ministry, corporate finance and banking sectors as well as the officials of budget wing and the secretary. The finance minister on Tuesday got briefing from Dr Sania Nishtar, chairperson BISP, on various initiatives of Ehsaas Programme; and on Wednesday, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain held separate meetings with Tarin.

During a briefing by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on inflation, Tarin suggested officials to include two more cities in the data collection of the SPI by expanding the number of cities to 19 from the existing 17. Sources said that achieving higher growth 6 to 7 percent as desired by the finance minister is a stupendous task which will require to increase the development spending in an effective and meaningful manner.