ISLAMABAD, May 21: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said his government has decided to provide relief to the poorest of the poor in the new budget to help them cope with sky-rocketing food prices.

“My biggest worry is to offer some relief despite the fact that our government has inherited a bad economic situation,” he told reporters on his return from Egypt where he attended the World Economic Forum.

He said fiscal polices would be improved to enhance major economic indicators with particular reference to the poorer segment of the society.

He said Pakistan was expecting new investments from friendly countries and referred to his meetings with Saudi officials and foreign investors in Sharm el-Sheikh.

He said Saudi Arabia wanted to invest in agricultural sector for which investors would be provided land and infrastructure facilities. He said President Hosni Mubarak had also assured him of Egyptian investment in the agriculture and telecom sectors.Mr Gilani also said a “land bank” would be set up to offer loans to individuals and companies to build low-cost houses. There was an immediate need of building one million low-cost houses for the middle and lower middle income groups, he added.

Responding to a question, the prime minister said he had directed the law minister to take the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) out of the PM Secretariat and place it under the superior judiciary.

He said he himself and many other people had been victims of false cases prepared by NAB and the issue needed to be addressed seriously. Allowing NAB to continue to work would mean the functioning of a parallel judicial system, which was against the 1973 Constitution.

“Look at the dichotomy in our judicial system that I was sent to jail for five years under the NAB law for providing jobs to people and my servant who had committed a murder was also given five-year punishment under the normal law and we both were released the same day,” he said.

He also said his government had decided to immediately introduce jail reforms to end inhuman treatment meted out to prisoners, adding that he himself had experienced great hardship in prison.

About Pakistan-US relations, he said during his meeting with President Bush in Sharm el-Sheikh the two sides decided to increase cooperation, particularly in the field of defence and science and technology.

He said it was unfortunate that Pakistan had been subjected to the infamous Pressler and Brown amendments, which restricted defence cooperation.