Leaked figures: Rs225 billion Balochistan budget due on June 18

QUETTA:

The total volume of Balochistan’s budget for the 2015-16 fiscal will be Rs225 billion or Rs10 billion more than the previous year, a senior official of the provincial government told The Express Tribune. The official was himself involved in making the budget document.

Adviser to the chief minister on finance department Mir Khalid Langov is expected to unveil the budget on June 18.

The key priorities are education, health and law and order. “A huge amount will be allocated for law and order,” the official said. Proposals have been made for the expanding the tax net in the province.

Responding to a question, he said many members of Balochistan Assembly are unhappy with the budget as the bureaucracy had tried to allocate a minimum budget for their personal schemes in their respective constituencies. “MPAs are unhappy. “They are trying their best to put pressure to get maximum allocation, but have so far failed to do so.”.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2015.