Saeed Offering Another Post Budget Socio-economic Agenda for 2010-2011

In the wake of recently proposed Federal Budget 2010-2011, Saeed khan Abbasi is going to propose post-budget socio-economic development agenda and suggestions to federal government of Pakistan.

Pakistan's Federal Budget 2010-2011

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/06-people-at-the-heart-and-center-of-budget-rs-02  


SLAMABAD: The government announced on Saturday an overall consolidated budget of Rs3.259 trillion for 2010-11, including additional taxation measures of Rs133 billion, and offered some relief to the poor and salaried people.
Pledging to increase tax revenue, pursue a tight fiscal policy, check inflation and protect economic recovery and poorer sections, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, the Minister for Finance and Revenue, in his budget speech in the National Assembly described the tax measures as “fair, just and equitable guided by the principle of ‘ability to pay’ set in the context of a war economy”.
The budget outlay of Rs3.259 trillion (including provinces) is about 11 per cent higher than the Rs2.897 trillion budget for the outgoing financial year.
The budget sets a tax revenue target of Rs1.779 trillion, compared with the last year’s Rs1.494 trillion -- an increase of about 19 per cent. The Federal Board of Revenue has been given a collection target of Rs1.667 trillion which is 20 per cent higher than the current year’s target of Rs1.380 trillion.
Dr Hafeez said the budget aimed at seven major objectives -- protecting economic recovery, controlling inflation, achieving self-reliance through domestic resource mobilisation, targeted social protection regime for poverty reduction, controlling losses of public sector entities, reducing unemployment, improving investment climate and overcoming energy shortages.
The FBR’s revenue target of Rs1.667 trillion includes direct taxes of Rs657.7 billion and indirect taxes of Rs1.121 trillion. Direct taxes are about 22 per cent higher than the current year’s revised estimate of Rs540.4 billion. Indirect taxes are about 19 per cent higher than the current year’s Rs943 billion. Indirect taxes include Rs675 billion sales tax, Rs153 billion federal excise and Rs181 billion customs duty.
Against a total outlay of Rs3.259 trillion, the new budget forecasts total revenue at Rs2.574 trillion, leaving a fiscal deficit of Rs685 billion or four per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). It will be met through net external financing of Rs186 billion, net non-bank borrowing of Rs332.6 billion and banking borrowing of Rs166.5 billion. An amount of Rs1.033 trillion will be transferred to the provinces under the seventh NFC award, compared to Rs655 billion during the current year, showing a substantial increase of about 58 per cent.
The next year’s current expenditure has been estimated at Rs1.998 trillion against the current year’s original estimate of Rs1.699 trillion, up about 17.6 per cent. This includes expected defence expenditure of Rs442 billion which is 17 per cent higher than the current year’s revised estimate of Rs378 billion.
Allocations for the Public Sector Development Programme have been increased by 2.6 per cent to Rs663 billion. The current year’s original allocation was Rs646 billion.
An amount of Rs873 billion has been set aside for debt servicing, compared to the current year’s revised estimate of Rs815 billion, showing an increase of about seven per cent. The servicing of foreign debt will consume Rs251 billion against Rs219 billion of the current year. The servicing of domestic debt has been estimated at about Rs622 billion against the current year’s revised estimate of Rs596 billion.
The finance minister said the total federal budgetary outlay had been estimated at Rs2.229 trillion -- 13.1 per cent of the GDP.
As an austerity measure, the non-salary current expenditure will stand frozen at the current year’s level. The government will be required to get an approval from the cabinet for any supplementary grant beyond 10 per cent of the approved budget.
The government has estimated total federal resources at Rs2.764 billion against the current year’s estimate of Rs2.462 trillion. Net revenue receipts have been estimated at Rs1.377 trillion. The current year’s estimate was of Rs1.352 trillion.
Dr Hafeez avoided discussing the much talked about value added tax (VAT), but said the general sales tax system would be reformed by October 1 in consultation with the provinces and other stakeholders. In the meantime, he said, GST rates would be raised by one percentage point to be replaced with the proposed single lower rate of 15 per cent on October 1.
The minister, however, said that operating under the international framework, the government would have to honour sovereign commitments to protect international credibility while aiming to be self-reliant and less dependant on foreign loans.
He praised the government for presenting the first budget after the consensus NFC award, reflecting the will of the people to transfer more resources to the provincial governments to steer development in education, health, law and order and municipal services.
Dr Hafeez said the reformed GST would not apply to health, education and food items consumed by the poor or to those whose annual turnover was less than Rs7.5 million. The proposed system would broaden the tax base instead of burdening the existing taxpayers.
A pilot scheme of Rs5 billion will be launched in 120 union councils in 12 least-developed districts and others which have suffered the most because of the security situation. Under the scheme, a guaranteed daily wage equal to minimum wage will be provided to unskilled workers for 100 days a year. The amount will be transferred from frozen non-salary current expenditure to benefit 200,000 households next year.
Dr Hafeez said that federal government employees would be allowed an ad hoc increase of 50 per cent in their basic salary without giving additional increase to those who had already availed it. This increase will not be allowed to cabinet members whose salaries would be cut by 10 per cent.
The government has allocated Rs131 billion for hydel, thermal and nuclear energy projects to augment generation and improve transmission. Diamer-Bhasha dam will be launched as a mega project during the fiscal year.
Dr Hafeez said that Rs50 billion would be spent under the Benazir Income Support Programme to provide targeted cash grants to the poorest of the poor. At the same time, a comprehensive exist strategy scheme based on international best practices will be introduced like Waseela-i-Haq to provide self-employment through small business.
Taxation proposals
Following are the highlights of taxation measures announced in the budget for fiscal 2010-11.
• The system of General Sales Tax will be reformed to replace multiple tax rates with a single lower rate of 15pc.
• The reformed GST will not apply to health, education and food items consumed by the poor.
• The GST will not apply to turnover of less than Rs7.5 million per year whereas the current threshold is Rs5 million a year. The system will be automated, reducing the possibility of corruption and refund delays.
• It will broaden the tax base, instead of burdening the taxpayers.
• The GST reform is expected to be in place by Oct 1 after consultations with the provinces and other stakeholders.
• As an interim measure, the GST rates are proposed to be raised by 1 percentage point. Once the reformed GST is in place, the proposed single lower rate of 15pc will become effective.
• One per cent Special Excise Duty levied on most items of imports and manufactured locally has been abolished.
• Federal Excise Duty incidence on all categories of cigarettes has been enhanced and an FED levy of Rs1 per filtered cigarette has been proposed.
• The rate of FED on natural gas has been increased to Rs10 per mmbtu, while a levy of FED at 10pc ad valorem on air-conditioners and deep freezers is proposed.
• Income tax exemption limit for the salaried class has been enhanced from Rs200,000 to Rs300,000, benefiting approximately 430,000 taxpayers.
• Exemption limit for non-salaried income is also proposed to be raised from Rs100,000 to Rs300,000 per year, benefiting approximately 350,000 taxpayers.
• Rate of income tax collected along with monthly electricity bill from industrial and commercial consumers is proposed to be reduced from 10pc to 5pc, providing a relief of Rs4.5 billion to 66,000 taxpayers.
• Under the Prime Minister’s Fiscal Relief Package for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas, an additional tax relief of about Rs2 billion has been provided to benefit 300,000 taxpayers.
• Instead of monthly withholding tax statements, only quarterly withholding statement will be required to be e-filed.
• Taxation on interest free/concessionary interest loans provided by an employer is proposed to be waived.
• Rate of final withholding tax on non-specified payments to non-residents is to be reduced from 30pc to 20pc.
• Tax-free payments to non-residents on profits on debt will be allowed 10pc tax credit for balancing, modernisation and replacement to all companies.
• A 5pc tax credit is proposed to be allowed to a company in the tax year of its enlistment.
• 10pc withholding tax has been announced as final charge on profit on debt (in debt instruments) and also for the investment in government securities (treasury bills and PIBs) to allow hassle-free compliance by non-residents.
• It has been proposed that income tax be raised for the association of persons (AOP) at a flat rate of 25pc against the existing progressive rate averaging up to 20pc.—APP

IMF Says the global economic crisis will continue

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=198128

Sunday, September 13, 2009

BERLIN: The global economic crisis will continue and countries must do more to adopt financial market regulations, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a German magazine on Saturday.

“The global economic crisis will continue, even if Germany and France had some good figures in the second quarter,” Strauss-Kahn was quoted as saying in an advance copy of an article to be published in Der Spiegel on Sunday. Strauss-Kahn said he wanted to see more action from nations to curb bankers’ pay and tighten capital requirements in the banking sector. “It is right to say that not enough has happened. I hope the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh will bring new momentum,” he said. Leaders of the G20 meet later this month to try to agree on measures to help stop a repeat of the financial crisis.

Strauss-Kahn said the lesson of the financial crisis was that the market economy needed rules to function. “Without new rules, there will be a return to the old behaviour,” he said. Governments needed to develop ‘exit strategies’ from the stimulus packages introduced to boost economies, said Strauss-Kahn, adding, however, that it was dangerous to think the crisis was already over.

“We need such “exit strategies”. We are working on them, but I would disagree with any demand to think about implementing them now,” he said. Strauss-Kahn said a combination of higher interest rates and ending direct intervention of central banks would be needed.

IMF had sufficient resources for now but that if the body were to take on additional responsibilities to coordinate a financial safety net for countries in financial difficulty, it would need a further financial boost.

THIS SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE ABOVE MENTIONED SITUATION ONCE AGAIN REQUIIRES PLANS LIKE MY OFFERED "SEMFO Global Plan"

No Direct US Aid to Pakistani Government

US says no direct money to PPP government

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Aid to go to specific projects

By Shaheen Sehbai

WASHINGTON: The United States made it absolutely clear on Friday, days before President Asif Ali Zardari is to meet President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in New York, that bulk of the money it will provide under the Kerry-Lugar Bill will not go directly to the PPP government but to specific projects and purposes for which it is intended.

This statement was made at a State Department briefing by Jacob J Lew, US Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, who returned to Washington on Friday morning from a trip to Iraq, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.Lew spoke specifically about the “anxiousness” in Pakistan that money should flow through the government but he almost threw cold water on these hopes.

It was the latest indication that the US government was still grappling with the issue of a huge trust deficit and would not feel comfortable with aid money getting into the hands of the PPP government despite efforts in Washington to repair and whitewash the image of PPP leaders.

Jacob Lew told the briefing: “On the question of aid, there, as any of you who have seen the press releases put out would know, they’re very much anxious to have as much of the assistance as possible flow directly to the Pakistani government.

“We made clear that we’re looking at a variety of approaches, that we certainly intend to be supportive of Pakistani ministries where the programmes are ready to accept that support effectively, but that we also needed to look at the provincial level and to work with the traditional NGO community, and it wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach.”

In a blunt statement, Lew said: “The key to us was that for each of the undertakings that we agreed upon, and they had to be things that were mutually attractive from the point of view of the Pakistani government and the US government, we had to choose a method of funding that was most likely to produce results efficiently and effectively, and that the money needed to go to the purposes for which it was intended.”

The official made it obvious that instead of providing aid to the government to spend wherever it liked, they would look at the ministry projects which are ready on a case to case basis and also provide direct aid to provinces and NGOs. That is what he meant by saying that “it would not be a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The News has learnt that the US is talking directly to provincial governments and other organisations working inside Pakistan to come up with specific projects.A top level delegation of the MQM, headed by Governor of Sindh Ishratul Ebad and Nazim Karachi Syed Mustafa Kamal, arrived in Washington on Saturday to talk directly to the State Department and other government agencies for projects in Karachi and Sindh. The visit apparently fits into the US policy of direct contacts for disbursing aid.

The visit of MQM leaders has been specially authorised by the MQM secretariat in London and sources in London told The News that the channels of the Pakistan government, including the embassy, had not been used to arrange these meetings. The Pakistan embassy comments on the possibility that the embassy may have been ignored for these direct MQM contacts with US officials were not immediately available.

Jacob Lew also spoke about his visit to Pakistan in general. “We focused on a number of issues. I think, as you all know, with the Kerry-Lugar programme being worked through now in Congress and the budget process working through, in terms of the appropriations, we’re ready to take the next step and put a detailed programme out there that really goes and specifies what forms of assistance will be provided.

“In the conversations we had with the Pakistani officials ñ we met with Prime Minister Gilani, we met with Finance Minister Tarin ñ they are very much focused on not just the amount of assistance in Kerry-Lugar, but the fact that it’s a multi-year commitment. They see it as an extremely important statement from the United States that weíre thinking in multi-year terms and thinking about a programme that has integrity over a period of time.

“We had detailed discussions following up on the secretary’s interest and the issue that Ambassador Holbrooke raised when he was there recently, of an energy relationship with Pakistan, how we could work together using the assistance that we’re providing to help Pakistan address what is one of its core economic issues. We raised also the fact that itís not just a question of assistance on projects, but that Pakistan had to take some very hard steps to reform its electric utility sector in order for there to be the real opportunity for sustainable progress. I was pleased that both in the conversation with the prime minister and with the finance minister, they heard that message and they responded very positively.

The US secretary also talked about his visit to the NWFP and said there was a “great deal of interest there, much as we heard at the federal level, in having US assistance provide a basis for partnership at ñ for provincial development. ìThere also seemed to be a fair amount of capacity at the provincial level. It was ñ we were impressed that the chief minister had a very good sense of his budget, his needs, and his limitations. And you had the sense that there was the capacity to partner quite effectively.”

Lew said he also met NGO and international organisation officials on the ground and asked a lot of questions about what they saw as being the next steps.“And thereís obviously two things that theyíre focusing on. One is kind of getting the first round of IDPs back home and safe for the winter. But they also are aware that with ongoing military activities, there could be new IDPs. So theyíre kind of working on coming to some kind of closure on the current experience while knowing that there may be more ahead.

“They were all focusing on the need for ongoing food and clothing support. It was not clear, frankly, the scope of damage to be repaired. Apart from the reports we got about schools and police stations, one didnít have the sense that there had been the ability to do the detailed assessment. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are supposed to complete an assessment even this week. So we will work together as we go through that.

“I guess the conclusion that I drew from the days we spent were that the government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan have really done an extraordinary job in dealing with millions of displaced people in a way that, from the brief time we spent there, seemed to have left considerable feeling of ñ that people had been taken care of in very difficult circumstances. And it doesnít mean that there arenít problems. There certainly are still problems. But it ñ the notion of people taking tens of people into their homes, their small homes, on very modest incomes, it just ñ people-to-people ñ gave you great respect for the outpouring of help that came from just regular people,” he said.

World Bank okays $300m for Pakistan’s projects

Saturday, September 12, 2009

KARACHI: The World Bank has approved two projects worth $300 million to help Pakistan strengthen its social safety nets and improve higher education.

While fighting a Taliban insurgency in the northwest, Pakistan is struggling with a weak economy and over a third of its people live in poverty.

The World Bank said $200 million was being allocated for the Pakistan Social Safety Nets Development Policy Credit to establish an effective framework.

“Pakistani households are highly vulnerable to income shocks, and existing social assistance programmes cover only a very small fraction of the poor,” Yusupha Crookes, the country director for Pakistan, said in a statement received on Friday.

“This project will help build a robust safety net system that provides chronic and transient poor people with both basic income support and access to opportunities that will help lift them out of poverty.”

The World Bank allocated $100 million to support the government’s efforts to improve higher education.
(http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=197909)

US Kerry Lugar Bill for Pakistan

Kerry Lugar Bill for Pakistan:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/13+kerry-lugar+bill+to+be+approved+by+september-za-04

Dawn.com

‘Kerry-Lugar Bill to be approved by September’
Friday, 28 Aug, 2009 | 09:05 PM PST |

The US also assured approval of the bill for reconstruction zones for FATA and the tribal areas.

ISLAMABAD: Former US vice Secretary of State for South Asia, and Economic and Developmental Aid for Pakistan, Rabin Raphael has announced that the Kerry-Lugar Bill would be approved by the American Senate by September.

Talking to media on Friday after round table talks in the American Embassy, he said that his appointment for managing the affairs in Pakistan pertained to oversee a coordinated disbursement of aid supplied to Pakistan under USAID and Kerry-Lugar schemes.

He said the reason for disbursement of non-military aid to Pakistan was to help Pakistan attain economic and developmental prosperity, help restructure the much damaged energy sector, cater to health, education, construction of highways and provision of basic facilities to masses.

He strongly refuted the notion of appointing an American inspector general to monitor the execution of American aid disbursement; however, he stressed for increased transparency, sincerity and honesty coupled with sheer objectivity in utilizing this aid; which was also the prime reason for his current visit, and stressed for enhancing the accountability process.

Answering a question about the 5-year $1.5 billion annual, Kerry-Lugar aid for Pakistan, he assured that it would be approved by the American Senate in September.

Also assuring the approval of reconstruction zones’ bill for FATA and tribal areas, he said that these bills would also be approved, and assured minimizing any non-developmental expenditure in these projects.

He expressed his deep affirmation that he would strive for better relations with Pakistan, and see to the full compensation for Pakistan’s daring struggle in the war against terrorism.—Online


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http://www.geo.tv/2-6-2009/34551.htm

GEO World

Kerry Lugar bill to be tabled in US Senate soon
Updated at: 2029 PST, Friday, February 06, 2009

WASHINGTON: A legislation, which would triple non-military aid to Pakistan for the next one decade and would impose greater accountability on security assistance will be reintroduced in the US Senate in coming weeks, powerful Senator and its co-sponsor John Kerry has said.

"We would be introducing it (the legislation) somewhere in the next weeks," Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told PTI.

The legislation called the Kerry-Lugar bill, is an updated and revised version of the Biden-Lugar Bill, which lapsed in the previous Congress and will triple military aid to Pakistan to USD 1.5 billion.

Senator Richard Lugar, the Ranking Republican member of the committee has been its co-sponsor on both the occasions.

The previous version of the bill was sponsored by Lugar and Joseph Biden, who is now the US Vice President. When the bill was introduced in the Senate in July 2008, Biden was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kerry said the new legislation is an improved version of the Biden-Lugar bill. "We are looking at a number of things," he said, without specifying it.

"We are looking at issues, we are looking at delivery of Government services and (want to) make certain that we are leveraging the right kind of policies and to the right amount of money," Kerry said.
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Pakistan's Foreign Loans Update 2008-09

IMF and other countries have so far provided a sum of USD:8.8 billion as loan to Pakistan during the fiscal year 2008-09, a report disclosed here.

According to the report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) still stands as the leading loan/financial assistance providing organization for Pakistan among other donor countries and institutions which has given a sum of USD:3.948 bn for the said period in compliance with a total loan facility agreement of USD:7.6 bn.

Besides the IMF, following organizations have provided the loan facilities to Pakistan during the year 2008-09 :

Various International Financial Institutions (IFIs) : USD:4861.1 million

Asian Development Bank : USD: 1.5 billion

World Bank : USD: 1.17 billion

Islamic Development : USD: 678.44 million

World Bank's board of directors will meet on 10th of September in their head quarters Washington, to sanction a loan amount of USD: 25 milion for Pakistan.

According to the Pakistani ministry of Economic Affairs this loan amount will be consumed for their two projects i.e. Benazir Income Support Program ( USD: 15 millon) and Higher Education Program (USD: 10 million). It is expected that the said loan grant will be provided to Pakistan by the end of September 2009 at the discounted interest rate of 1.5%

Pakistan's Foreign Assistance Updates

IMF and Other Donors Provides USD:8.8 bn to Pakistan:

During the fiscal year 2008-09 Pakistan has received a total of USD:8.8 billion in terms of loans and financiasl assistance.

According to a report

Pakistan's First National Bloggers Conference 2009

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Saturday, April 18,2009: Karachi (Pakistan)


National Bloggers Conference-2009, the ever first bloggers' event in South-Asia and Pakistan was held on Saturday, April 18,2009 in Karachi. Ministry of Information Technology Sindh was organizing body of the said event. Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr.Farooq Sattar was the Chief Guest and spoke well on the event to explain his ministry's initiatives for bloggers so that this new and most effective medium in the cyber world could be utilized well.

Speaking on the occasion the provincial minister for the Information Technology Raza Haroon emphasized the need of blogging in the modern era. He assured the bloggers for his maximum cooperation in this regard.

Pakistani Bloggers including the President of Pakistan Software Houses' Association (PASHA) Ms. Jehan Ara gave presentations on the different aspects of blogging. A Question and Answers session was carried at the event too, putting different queries regarding the present and future of blogging in Pakistan.

Young IT expert Ali Chisti and his co-host did an excellent job as HOSTS of that great event.


I participated the conference and discussed some fruitful issues with participants of the conference.

Saeed Abbasi again offers government to help in getting budgetary support

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Attention: Mr.Shuakat Tarin,
Honorable Federal Adivisor to the Prime Minister on Finance,
Government of Pakistan.


Honorable Sir,

This moderator Saeed Khan Abbasi once again offers his SEMFO Global Plan based services to the federal government in the face of your recent announcement regarding the $4bn's budgetary support which you seek from Friends of Pakistan forum(an international donor set up).

I have already annoyunced and offered in November 2008 to help Pakistan in crucial recession situation and to obtain adequate funding through my suggested strategy without relying on the IMF and other donor agencies.As I have offred and challenged before and again I offer and challenge that:

@ Through my SEMFO Global Plan based strategy I can enable Pakistan to arrange around $25bn to $35bn for a long term period besides enabling Pakistn's next budget DEFICIT Free despite stern conditions.

(FOR ANALYSING MY PREVIOUS OFFER PLEASE READ "PAKISTAN PLAN MODEL" LINK ON THIS BLOG)



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Following is the news text of Mr.Shuakat Tarin's press conference of Monday, April 13,2009.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=172256

Pakistan to seek $4bn budgetary support from FoDP: Tarin

Says militancy caused closure of 22,000 industrial units in NWFP, Balochistan

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will seek $2 billion for security related projects; $4 billion as budgetary support for health and education for next years and $1-2 billion for Trust Fund to cater to development needs of NWFP and Balochistan, said Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin

Flanked with Federal Information Minister Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira, Tarin during the press briefing on Meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan here on Monday said that Pakistan having sustained $35 billion loss in the war on terror during last 7 to 8 years will sensitise the Friends about worsening law and order situation that has arisen out of fight against militancy.

He mentioned that because of the increase in militancy, some 2,200 industrial units in terrorism-hit NWFP and troubled Balochistan have been closed down and about 590 units are in operational form.

“This has triggered huge poverty in the said federating units, which has given impetus in militants’ activities in general in the whole country and in particular in NWFP.” Tarin said: “During the FODP and Donors moot, broad based problems of Pakistan will be identified.”

Pakistan diverted huge resources from other sectors of economy to fight war on terror, which is why main social sectors of education, health and projects to erase poverty remained neglected.

Pakistan is in dire need of $4bn for allocating maximum budgetary allocation for education and health, which will ultimately help erode the poverty. “Pakistan is at present spending 15pc of GDP on education while 0.5 to 0.6pc of GDP on health which is very low while India is spending 4 to 5pc of GDP on health and education.”

He said that on security front, Pakistan needs Special Forces equipped with latest equipment and training to deal with militants, as the conventional forces of Pakistan do not have capacity to deal with this menace.

To a question he said that Pakistan would seek $2 billion for security related schemes. He said that because of the ongoing war Pakistan has now about 300,000 Internally Displaced People who need to be taken care of properly, but Pakistan lacks resources to handle IDPs.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that donors are ready to come up with about 60 billion dollars commitments but they want the transparency of international standards to gauge the right utilization of funds, Tarin said that Pakistan would ensure the transparency in utilisation of funds and good governance while getting the commitment of about $30 billion for medium to long terms partnership for development in various sectors of economy.

The advisor said that Pakistan needs to get its house in order and the commitment for transparency and good governance has been included in the 9-point agenda, which Pakistan would share from FoDP.

Coming to the initiative that the government is undertaking to address the poverty, safety nets would be ensured under Benazir Income Support Program. For this purpose, with the help of World Bank, poverty census has been initiated in about 16 districts.

“Once this process gets completed, every house which falls in the poverty census will be given Benzair Card of Rs1,000 per month. Moreover one person of the said house will also be given skill keeping in view the needs of their particular areas so that he could get the jobs there. The skill development would also be given for overseas employment.

“This will help reduce the poverty in the country.” He said that Health Insurance of Rs20,000 for below poverty people would be introduced.

About Moderator(s)

Saeed Khan Abbasi:Chairman/Chief Executive/Owner

Saeed Khan Abbasi is from Karachi Pakistan (South Asia), with Socio-Economic, Media ,Lobbying, Image building and Community Learning skills. Saeed Abbasi has been engaged with print & electronic media News & Current Affairs responsibilities with different news papers and later on with a local private satellite television channel in Karachi (Pakistan). He has extensive experience of community development and Socio-economic analysis, while despite lack of resources he researched and announced a unique Socio-Economic Management Formula (SEMFO) Plan to confront recession. Presently he is engaged with lunching his proposed SEMFO Plan theory as a global consultancy think-tank to provide services all over the world.