NEC to convene tomorrow as govt wraps up budget 2026-27

The National Economic Council (NEC) is slated to hold an important meeting tomorrow at the Prime Minister’s House as the government is close to finishing the federal budget for the fiscal year 2026-27.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will chair the meeting which would be held at 3 pm and would discuss the approval of the national development budget and identification of major economic priorities for the next fiscal year.

According to the schedule of the meeting, the chief ministers of all four provinces would be participating as members of the council and the discussions would be held on the plans of federal and provincial development spending.

The council will analyse the development budget for the outgoing fiscal year 2025-26 and assess the success on the existing public sector investment initiatives before making allocations for the next financial year.

Provincial governments are also required to prepare their Annual Development Programmes (ADPs). The council will discuss ideas related to federal and provincial development expenditures and approve significant economic targets for 2026-27.

Besides deliberations on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), and other public sector investment goals, the participants will be briefed about the major social and economic indicators in detail by provinces.

The meeting agenda will also feature a presentation of the performance report of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for the period from 1st April, 2025 to 31st March, 2026.

The assessment will also include reports relating to the approvals by the CDWP and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for different development initiatives over the same period.

Participants are also scheduled to be presented monitoring and assessment reports regarding important development initiatives in the country.

The conference will begin with a full presentation by the Federal Minister for Planning on development priorities, investment plans and allocations for the next financial year.

The NEC conference is seen as an important precursor to the formal announcement of the federal budget with policy makers trying to balance the demands of the fiscal limits with those of the development needs and economic growth goals.