Policy & fiscal coordination b/w federal & provincial govts pivotal for the economic prosperity & sustainable growth: Dr. Shamshad Akhtar

ISLAMABAD, Sep 27 (SABAH): Caretaker Federal Minister of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Division Dr. Shamshad Akhtar held a meeting with the Provincial Finance Ministers at the Finance Division on Wednesday.

The meeting was held in a hybrid format, where-in the respective Provincial Ministers joined through the video link. The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister Sindh, Finance Ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan, besides the Federal and provincial Finance Secretaries, Federal Secretary Planning, as well as senior government officials.

The meeting was aimed at reviewing the spending patterns of PSDP, controlling prices of essential commodities, enhancing quality of services in education and health sectors and providing relief to the general public by strengthening the social safety nets.

The Finance Minister emphasized that the provinces are the interface with the public and have a major role to play in improving the social services as well as ensuring food security and stabilizing prices by minimizing the gap between the whole-sale & retail prices of the essential commodities. She added that policy and fiscal coordination between the federal and provincial governments is pivotal for the economic prosperity and sustainable growth. 

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar underscored that there is a huge potential for rationalizing the public expenditure arrangements between the federal and provincial governments for promoting efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure, as well as prioritization for speedy and smooth implementation of the projects under public sector development programs, with emphasis on social protection. She underlined that the corrective measures in this regard would not only result in substantive savings but would also contribute in improving the effectiveness and implementation of the project in the priority sectors of education and health.

While sensitizing the provincial finance Ministers regarding the expenditure and revenue targets in the current budget of the FY 2023-24, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar encouraged the provincial governments to ensure achieving these targets, so that the primary budget deficit targets can be achieved.

The meeting recommended that provinces to bring forward prioritization of various projects funded by the Federal Government which falls under the ambit of the provincial subjects following the devolution of power.

The Provinces assured that efforts are underway to control prices and improve quality of service in health and education sectors and to streamline financial discipline to meet budgetary targets.