Health, education and social protection: Govt’s current expenditure totals Rs637.749bn: FD

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Division has released the data of federal government’s current expenditure on health, education and social protection which stood at Rs637.749 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24.

The FD stated that this data covers current expenditures of the federal government on health, education and social protection, subjects which stand devolved to the provinces with the enactment in April 2010 of the 18th amendment to the constitution.

The amendment transferred several subjects from the federal legislative list to the provincial domain, effectively decentralising power and responsibility, and allowing provinces greater financial and legislative autonomy.

ADB approves $330mn financing to bolster Pakistan’s social protection programmes

Total spending on social protection including Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) remained Rs478.749 billion in 2023-24. Besides allocation for employee-related and operational expenditures, grant allocation is made each financial year by the federal government for BISP. For 2023-24 this allocation was Rs466 billion.

Kafaalat unconditional cash transfers is BISP’s primary programme for which Rs358.033 billion were disbursed. Region-wise funds disbursed in 2023-24 remained as; ICT (Rs0.29 billion), Gilgit-Baltistan (Rs3.85 billion), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Rs4.15 billion), Punjab (Rs169.07 billion), Sindh (Rs95.74 billion), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Rs67.04 billion) and Balochistan (Rs17.89 billion). A smaller component of federal government expenditure on social protection is through Pakistan Baitul Mal, which stood at Rs4.2 billion.

Total expenditure on education including running current expenditure and grants stood at Rs114 billion in 2023-24.

The largest chunk of federal government expenditure on education is earmarked for higher education and is disbursed to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the form of grant, which stood at Rs68.5 billion in 2023-24. For 2023-24, an amount of Rs1.3 billion was also allocated to HEC for employee-related and operational expenditures.

An analysis of this expenditure highlights that in 2023-24 around 16 percent of funds were disbursed by HEC to universities and institutes in ICT, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan while the remaining funds were allocated for universities in provinces.

Allocation for education in 2023-24 stood at Rs32 billion, of which, Rs26 billion was meant for employee-related expenditures and Rs6 billion for operational requirements. Budgetary allocation for health in 2023-24 stood at Rs24.2 billion.

Rs9.6 billion was allocated for employee-related expenditures and Rs14.6 billion for operational requirements. In 2023-24 actual expenditure of the federal government on health added Rs21.3 billion through provincial contribution for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), a programme running since 1978 to protect children against vaccine preventable diseases.

The programme remains critical to the commitment of the government in providing safe and effective vaccination and for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 on reducing child morbidity and mortality.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025