Max funds set aside for health in Sindh budget

Govt has decided to reduce development funds to meet the coronavirus emergency

KARACHI: The Sindh government is set to present a budget of around Rs1,220 billion today, focusing on public health by allocating more funds to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and reducing a chunk of funding from development schemes.

According to budget documents available with The Express Tribune, the Sindh government has reduced its development portfolio from Rs228 billion in the outgoing year 2019-2020 to approximately Rs170 billion for next the financial years 2020-2021.

“Around Rs58 billion have been reduced from the provincial annual development programme (ADP). The main reason for the move is a reduction in the share from the federal divisible pool and the tax collection target,” an official from the finance department said.

In the outgoing year 2019-2020, the provincial government earmarked Rs208 billion for the provincial ADP and Rs20 billions for the districts. For the next year, about Rs155 is set aside for the provincial development portfolio while only Rs15 billion are reserved for the districts. However, a significant amount has been allocated to the health sector in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the budget book, in the current year, the development budget for the health department was Rs13.5 billion, which has now increased to approximately Rs23.5 billion.

“Around Rs5 billion have been allocated to the Covid-19 emergency fund and a total Rs15 billion will be directly or indirectly spent on health in the coming fiscal year,” the official said, adding that a 200-bed hospital for infectious diseases will be established in each district headquarter.

The total development budget for the education department, including schools, college and universities in the outgoing year 2019-2020 was Rs23 billion, an amount which has been reduced to Rs21 billion in the coming budget.

In a few departments, the development budget has been slashed by 20 to 50 per cent. For instance, the development budget for the irrigation department is Rs22 billion in the current fiscal year, which is expected to be decreased to Rs13billion in the next fiscal year.

The development portfolio for the local government department has been reduced from Rs22.4 billion in 2019-2020 to Rs13.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Following the recommendations of the judicial commission on water, the provincial government focused on water, sanitation and hygiene issue last year by allocating more development funds to the public health engineering department. It will be a big blow to the department as its development funds have been reduced from Rs20 billion to Rs11 billion because of which many development schemes might be halted.

New schemes

Even though the government has not announced any new schemes in its budget, the launching of the “Sindh People’s Support Cash Programme” is on the cards, which will be run under the Ehsaas Programme, formerly known as the Benazir Income Support Programme.

Aside from that, the government has planned to include a “Poverty Reduction Programme” in the budget to financially support small traders, agriculturists, and needy people who have suffered during the Covid-19 lockdown. The other proposed intervention of the government includes a soft loan worth Rs5 billion for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through the Sindh Bank, Rs1 billion subsidy on fertilisers for small farmers, Rs1 billion subsidy for export quality rice seeds for small farmers, Rs3 billion for the Poverty Reduction Programme for small business in urban areas, and Rs2 billion for small farmers and community based-loans for rural areas.

“A total of Rs34 billion will be spent on the economic revival and relief package under different projects,” sources privy to the development said. In the budget, the government has estimated to receive Rs779 billion from the Centre and set provincial tax collection target to Rs263 as compared to Rs266 in the outgoing year 2019-2020. The estimation of non-development expenditure in 2019-2020 was Rs870 billion, which has now increased to Rs965 in the next fiscal year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2020.