K-P to fill budget deficit with cash balance

K-P Lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus on June 12

PESHAWAR: The provincial government hopes to fill an Rs60 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year 2020-21 through cash balance after it did not get its dues from the federal government.

Sources in the provincial finance department said that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government had set an estimated revenue target of Rs611 billion from the settled districts in the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20. With a slowdown in the national economy and the lower collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the government had lowered those targets to Rs540 billion. Of this, Rs504.6 billion was expected to be provided by the federal government.

The provincial government estimated that it would raise Rs45.4 billion on its own.

But with the advent of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the target further fell to Rs442 billion, or around an Rs60 billion. These funds were to be primarily provided by the centre. Moreover, K-P Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra had in a recent press briefing had revealed that the federal government had failed to pay around Rs30 billion in net hydel profits to the province while they had seen an Rs10 billion decrease in the revenue the province generated locally.

The finance minister has expressed the hope that they can partially fill the deficit left budget for the next fiscal year using the cash balance.

Testing lawmakers

After the provincial government decided to test all K-P Assembly lawmakers for Covid-19 who have to attend a session of the provincial assembly for the budget on June 19, the tests are expected to commence later this week.

Testing for MPAs will commence on June 12 and will conclude on June 15.

A source at the K-P Assembly Secretariat told The Express Tribune that all members have to be tested in their respective districts while advisers, ministers and special assistants will also have to go through this procedure.

The provincial government has issued directives to all the district headquarters hospitals and health minister in this regard.

To prevent the virus from spreading, guests and press galleries of the provincial assembly have also been declared as premises of the assembly, the source said.

Since social distancing guidelines will have to be ensured during the session, most lawmakers will not be able to sit in the assembly for the session owing to a shortage of space.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2020.