Rs1.04tr populist Sindh budget unveiled

No new taxes imposed,15% salary increase for govt employees in Sindh's budget

KARACHI: The PPP-led Sindh government, facing a battle to win next year’s elections, on Monday boosted its chances with a populist budget that envisaged no new taxes and expected to generate thousands of employment opportunities in the province, with a major chunk of revenues earmarked for development.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of finance, presented a Rs1.04 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2017-18, with a deficit of Rs14.3 billion. It was the 10^th consecutive budget presented by the PPP since the 2008 general elections.

The revised budgetary estimates reflected an increase of 19.6% over the outgoing budget for fiscal year 2016-17 of Rs869 billion.

Shah unveiled the budget in the Sindh Assembly, having a Rs344 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP). The chief minister also announced an increase of 15% in the basic salary of all government employees and introduced a health insurance policy for 10,000 government employees working in the Sindh secretariat.



“We have not imposed any new tax,” Shah told the provincial legislature.

Health, education, law and order, women development, local government and road infrastructure were among other sectors where the government increased a significant amount in development schemes.

“During our tenure, we have only made appointments based on need while ensuring meritocracy. For the next year, we have created around 49,000 posts in various government sectors,” the chief minister said

“25,000 employees of the Lady Health Worker programme will be incorporated in the services sector of Sindh and 10,000 personnel will be recruited in police,” he added.

The chief minister started his speech with a protest against the federal government over hours-long load-shedding in the province and said, “Step-motherly treatment is being meted out to Sindh. We have paid more than Rs27 billion as outstanding amount to power utilities, but the people living in Sindh suffer from 10 to 15 hours of load-shedding,” he remarked.



Shah expressed dismay over shortfall on account of federal transfers and said, “During ten months of the current financial year, we only received Rs382 billion instead of Rs456 billion we estimated in the budget. Based on this figure, we will be facing a shortfall of Rs95 billion at the end of the current financial year.”

Briefing about budget estimates for FY2017-18, the chief minister said the provincial government estimated Rs1.02 trillion against an estimated expenditure of Rs1.04 trillion.

“The receipts from the federal government on account of revenue assignment, straight transfer and grants are estimated at Rs627 billion,” he said, adding: “The Sindh government has also estimated to get Rs27 billion from the Public Sector Development Programme of the federal government and Rs42 billion from foreign project assistance.”



“We have estimated Rs199 billion as our own resources – including tax and non-tax receipts,” he added.

Regarding the education sector, the chief minister quoted former US president Franklin D Roosevelt and said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy therefore is education.”

He said the government allocated the highest per cent of resources in the upcoming year with an increase of 24 per cent.

“For the next financial year, we propose to enhance the total budget for education from Rs163 billion to Rs202 billion,” he said, adding: “Development budget for education has also been increased from Rs17 billion to Rs21 billion which include Rs11 billion for schools, Rs5 billion for colleges and Rs3.6 billion for boards and universities.”

Regarding health, Shah said: “The sector remains a top priority of his government and it has been allocated Rs100 billion against an allocation of Rs79 billion during the current fiscal year which is going to be ended on June 30.”



“In the development sector, we have enhanced the health budget from Rs14 billion to Rs15 billion,” he said, adding: “The government is striving to maximise the facilities at the primary level.”

According to the budget papers, the government also earmarked significant funds to maintain law and order in the province. In terms of resource allocations, the share of the home department -- including police, jails, Sindh Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies -- is the second largest.

“We have proposed Rs92 billion which reflects an increase of 10% over the allocation of Rs84 billion during the outgoing fiscal year,” the chief minister said.

Shah said the government disbursed Rs1,000 million as compensation among families of security personnel who were martyred. “We have recruited around 18,163 cops through NTS examinations and 10,000 more will be appointed next year,” he said.



Regarding energy, the government announced Rs3 billion in the next year and allocated Rs25 billion for road infrastructure. For the local government system, the government enhanced the budget from Rs20 billion during FY2016-17 to Rs25 billion for FY2017-18.

In the budget, special packages were also announced for various divisions of the province. For Karachi, the government allocated around Rs12 billion, Hyderabad division (Rs37 billion). Similarly, Rs18 billion has been allocated for Mirpurkhas, Rs15 billion for Shaheed Benazirabad, Rs18 billion for Larkana and Rs14 billion for Sukkur.

In transport and mass transit, the government announced Rs3.1 billion in the budget. Briefing about the mass transit programme in Karachi, the chief minister said, “We will not waste our time. Previously, we have rolled out multiple mass-transit programmes in Karachi.

“Now, we are going to rehabilitate the Karachi Circular Railways, which is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The total cost of the project stands at $2.4 billion, but we have allocated Rs241 million for the construction of boundary fence along the existing alignment of this project.”



The chief minister announced that for the next fiscal year, the government would not propose any new tax.

“For the next financial year, we are proposing to rationalise the rate of Sindh Sales Tax on telecom services and bring it at par with other provinces by increasing it from 19 per cent to 19.5 per cent,” he said, adding: “The telecom sector is already charging this amount from consumers.”

“This will allow us to generate an additional amount of Rs400 million,” he said. He announced reduction of Sindh Sales Tax on travel agents and tour operators from 10% to 8%, reduction of SST on services provided by specific class of indenters and call centres from 13% to 3% and reduction of the SST from 8% to 3% on services of renting of immovable property.

“I am pleased to share with the august house that the Sindh Revenue Board will be able to achieve its collection target of Rs78 billion during this year and for next financial year, we are going to enhance our target to Rs100 billion,” the chief minister said.