Islamabad:
The Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal acknowledged Thursday that the tight financial space, driven by structural constraints, reduced its ability to finance development projects within the framework of the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
During a press conference, he said that the development budget increased from 2.6% of GDP in 2017-2018 to only 0.8% – a trend described as a serious structural concern for national development.
He said that the government aims to achieve development and other expenses through internal resources, however, achieving this objective requires increasing Pakistan’s tax / GDP ratio to at least 16% – a level already maintained by regional peers.
