ECONOMIC SURVEY 2025-26: Provinces’ development freeze to persist beyond next fiscal year

Reviewing the economic report card, the minister said the economy grew by 3.7 per cent this year — almost the same as the 3.6pc reported at this stage last year, later revised down to 3.2pc — reflecting resilience and economic stability in the face of three major exogenous shocks: global trade and tariff challenges at the beginning of the fiscal year, floods in Pakistan and, finally, regional war-related pressures. Aurangzeb, who was flanked by the ministers for planning and information, the minister of state for finance and the railways minister, said he would explain in detail in his budget speech the mechanism for utilisation of additional resources secured from the provinces through the development freeze. Asked whether the understanding outside the National Finance Commission, formalised at the National Economic Council meeting a day earlier, was permanent or limited to one year, he said the arrangement would be for a specific period beyond one year. The finance minister appreciated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the “impressive engagement”