Punjab to announce Budget 2020-21 today

Punjab's budget for the next financial year 2020-2020 will be presented today (Monday), the total outlay of the budget will be around Rs2250 billion.

Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Javan Bakht will present the budget in the Punjab Assembly after the approval of the provincial cabinet.

According to the budget documents, the volume of the annual development program of the province is Rs338 billion while it is proposed to allocate Rs1780 billion for ongoing expenditure.

The health and education sectors have been included as top priorities of the government in the budget. It has been proposed to allocate Rs123bn for the primary healthcare sector which is an increase of 13 percent over the current financial year.

The specialized health sector is also proposed to be given Rs130bn signifying an increase of 7pc, Rs323bn for school education showing an increase of 18% and Rs9bn for health professionals working against coronavirus pandemic.

A proposal to recruit 8,519 posts of health professionals has also been included in the provincial budget for the next financial year.

A tax relief package of Rs15bn is being proposed in the Punjab budget, a 17pc increase in the budget of the police department has been proposed and Rs 132 billion is proposed to be set aside in this regard.

According to details, keeping in view the suggestions made in the federal budget, it has been proposed not to increase the salaries and pensions of government employees in the budget for the next financial year.

However, the final decision will be taken by Chief Minister Usman Bazdar in a meeting of the provincial cabinet before the budget meeting today.