Budget 2012 : Floods, terrorism dominate Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget

Education budget rises by 45%, health allocation increases; Special Police in Malakand to continue functioning.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s Rs85.1 billion development budget was dominated by allocation to deal with the damage caused by the flood as well as the Taliban insurgency, even as funds for education were expanded by a considerable 44.5%.

For the first time in the province’s history, the development budget will include an allocation for public safety and law enforcement. The government is expected to spend Rs807 million to continue to fund the 6,700-strong Malakand Special Police Force. Total allocations for the police are expected to be Rs18.8 billion, less than the Rs21 billion to that was spent in the outgoing year.

In addition, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is expected to grant two-year extensions to 2,500 army personnel who are scheduled to retire. The cost of those extensions, expected to be Rs635 million, will be borne by the provincial government.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Humayun Khan claimed that the provincial government had turned down $1.3 billion on foreign loans which came with unacceptable conditions attached. Nonetheless, the province is expected to receive Rs16 billion in foreign aid, which is nearly 17% more than the previous year in nominal terms.

Education, meanwhile, has been allocated Rs10.6 billion in the development budget, more than the Rs9 billion it has been allocated in the operating budget. The substantial investments in education include upgrading 370 schools, 300 additional class rooms and 200 new primary schools. About 4.6 million students of primary and middle schools will be provided free books and 400,000 girls will be provided scholarships, said the finance minister.

Meanwhile, the allocations for health continued to remain meagre, expanding by less than 6%, far below the rate of inflation. In real terms, the running allocation for health is expected to decline in fiscal year 2012.

As one of the worst-hit provinces by the 2010 floods, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be spending up to Rs16.8 billion (about 20% of the development budget) on flood relief activities, including reconstruction of government property as well as spending in areas worst hit by the floods.





Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.