PESHAWAR: A Rs294.2 billion Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget for the financial year 2010-11 was unveiled here on Saturday in the provincial assembly by Finance Minister Engineer Mohammad Humayun Khan.
The minister said the expenditure estimates and income receipts for the year stand equally at Rs294.2 billion, making the budget a balanced one. No new tax has been levied.
The province anticipates receipts of Rs123.4 billion from federal taxes, Rs9.4 billion in oil and gas royalty, Rs6 billion in net hydel profit and arrears of Rs25 billion in lieu of net hydel profit in July 2010.
The province will also get a special grant of Rs15.2 billion for war on terror and Rs7.2 billion from provincial taxes. For the first time the province received Rs845 million from its first provincially established Malakand III power generation project, the minister noted.
The province will get Rs12.3 billion for General Sales Tax (GST) on services, Rs400 million in General Capital Receipts, Rs9.3 billion in foreign aid and Rs85.9 in lieu of food trading.
The budget documents also show estimated expenditure of Rs294.2 billion for the year. Of this, Rs127.9 billion have been allocated for current expenditures.
The budget documents indicate that Rs94 billion have been allocated for health and education, Rs21 billion for police, Rs11 billion for payment of pension, Rs51.9 billion to districts for salaries and other expenditures.
The revenue and estate department will get Rs150 million for relief activities.
Rs2.5 billion have been set aside for wheat subsidy, Rs 16 billion for operations and maintenance and salaries of other departments, Rs5.9 billion for public account dues and investment, Rs9.6 billion for debt payment, Rs11 billion for capital expenditures, Rs60 billion for development programme, Rs9.3 billion for development expenditures with foreign assistance and Rs85.9 billion for food trading.
The minister termed the provincial annual development program (ADP) unique in the sense it is based on the province’s own resources.
The ADP outlay shows Rs69.3 billion allocation of which the provincial share is an overwhelming Rs60 billion, while the rest of Rs9.2 billion are in foreign aid. This year’s ADP is 77 per cent higher than previous year’s allocation of Rs33.3 billion. Humayun Khan said that the ADP comprises 972 projects of which 636 are ongoing and 336 new ones. Giving a breakdown of funds for social sector, he said health will get 11 per cent, education 17 per cent, Tameer Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa programme 2 per cent, drinking water and sanitation four per cent, highways 14 per cent, housing 6.5 per cent, irrigation four per cent, agriculture two per cent, forestry one per cent, industries four per cent and regional development 24 per cent of funds. Twenty per cent of the funds have been allocated for other sectors.
Humayun Khan announced that the salaries of the government employees would be raised by 50 per cent and pension of retired employees would be raised by 15 to 20 per cent from July 1, according to the federal government announcement.
He said that the medical allowance of government employees from grade one to 16 will be raised by 100 per cent. Employees in grade 17 and above will get a medical allowance of 15 per cent of their basic pay. He said the salary increase, pensions and medical allowance will cost the government exchequer Rs22 billion. However, he said, the police department will not get a raise as their salaries had been increased in the past. He said the provincial ministers have voluntarily agreed to slash their salaries by 20 per cent.
The minister said that no new taxes are being introduced in the budget. He said there was a proposal of imposition of one per cent GST on services as the federal government has increased sales tax on goods from 16 to 17 per cent.
The minister also presented supplementary budget of Rs35.530 billion for the year 2009-10 in the house for approval which shows current expenditure of Rs30.614 billion, capital expenditure of Rs0.435 billion and development expenditure of Rs4.481 billion.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 13th, 2010.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ