PESHAWAR: The provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passed a surplus budget of Rs 1,360.37 billion for 11 months of the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24, including the last eight months and the last two months of the present elected government.

Provincial Minister Aftab Alam Afridi presented the budget in the assembly which met here on Friday with Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in the chair.

Afridi said in his speech that the current financial and economic difficulties have had made this budget more difficult as one hand most of the infrastructure of the province was destroyed due to the disastrous floods of 2022 and terrorism on the other hand.

KP PA approves over Rs159bn budget for current month

He said successive incidents have also adversely affected the provincial economy, adding that under Article 126 of the Constitution, the caretaker government approved the expenditure for four months from July 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023 after that, the interim government, in consultation with the law department, also approved the expenditure for another four months, from November 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.

Meanwhile, general elections were held on February 8, 2024, but the new provincial cabinet had not been formed by that time, due to which, under Article 125, the provincial assembly approved the expenses for one month from March 1, 2024 to March 29, 2024, he informed.

The minister said that similarly, the provincial cabinet also approved the necessary expenses for the two months of April 2024 and May 2024.

While informing the House about the details and important points of the total budget of the current financial year, including the budget of the last ten months, the Minister said that the federal tax revenue was Rs 764.611 billion while amount received under war on terror was Rs 91.873 billion and Rs 38.661billion were received under royalties and surcharges on oil and gas.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024