The combined saving and investment figure largely determines the next year’s GDP growth, and this low figure therefore does not bode well for the coming year. The poor investment figure has drawn attention to the role of the Special Investment Facilitation Council, set up last year, and its failure despite much fanfare, to deliver all that much. An important part of investment comes from the Public Sector Development Programme. Cutting it is always anti-growth, and perhaps the most direct contribution to growth that any Finance Minister can make is to prevent the PSDP being cut. Perhaps the most effective contribution any Finance Minister can make is to defend the PDSP.
