The government of Balochistan on Tuesday presented the provincial budget 2022-23 with an outlay of Rs612 billion and announced that no new taxes have been imposed. The theme of the budget is “fostering sustainability and inclusive growth”.
While presenting the budget, Balochistan Finance Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran said that Rs367 billion have been earmarked for non-development expenditure while Rs191.5 billion have been set aside for development expenditure. The province expects to earn revenue of Rs540 billion in 2022-23 and spend Rs612.79 billion.
The finance minister also announced 15% increase in the salaries of government employees and underlined that the provincial leadership would create 2,851 new jobs for the youth in fiscal year 2022-23.
He highlighted that Rs38 billion have been allocated for health while education expenditure will amount to Rs70 billion in 2022-23.
“The government has set aside Rs44 billion for safety and security and Rs450 million have been allocated for irrigation,” he said. “Out of Rs450 million grant announced for irrigation, Rs3.47 million will be spent on non-development schemes and Rs29 billion will be spent on development initiatives.”
Balochistan govt postpones budget announcement at the last minute
In the agriculture sector, Rs2.9 billion have been set aside to provide interest free loans to farmers for wheat procurement.
According to him, Rs2.5 billion will go towards Balochistan Pension Fund and Rs1.75 billion will be spent on Food Security Revolving Fund. In addition, Rs2.9 billion have been earmarked for provision of food subsidy.
Moreover, the provincial government will spend Rs2.5 billion for land revenue management information system and Rs1.48 billion for Gwadar Safe City Project Phase 1.
Additionally, Rs250 million have been allocated for establishment of Hub Special Economic Zone and Rs500 million for development of Ziarat town.
Delay
On Monday, the government of Balochistan postponed the budget 2022-23 announcement to Tuesday June 21 as lawmakers of the province failed to reach a consensus, reported Aaj News.
According to reports, the government was unable to finalise the budget as lawmakers demanded development schemes for their respective areas.
But the CM secretariat said the reason was that Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Biznejo is busy with the Balochistan Awami Party council session.
The Punjab government presented Rs3.226 trillion provincial budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 after much delay at Aiwan-e-Iqbal instead of Punjab Assembly as the treasury and opposition benches failed to reach a consensus on convening a session.
Punjab budget presented in parallel session
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah presented Rs1,714-billion budget for fiscal year 2022-23 and announced that no new taxes have been imposed while some previous ones have been rationalised.
Sindh unveils Rs1,714-billion budget with ‘no new taxes’
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government presented Rs1,332 billion budget for financial year 2022-23 with allocation of Rs1,108.9 billion for the settled districts and Rs223.1 billion for the newly merged districts comprising areas of the former Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA).