Balochistan unveils Rs612.79b deficit budget

Budget session marred by rifts in government

QUETTA:

Amid differences over development projects, the Balochistan government on Tuesday presented a budget with a total outlay of Rs612.79 billion and a deficit of Rs72 billion.
The budget session began with a three-hour delay because of rifts within the coalition government.
Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, the provincial finance minister, presented the budget for the financial year 2022-23. The provincial government has allocated Rs367 billion for non-development expenditures for the next FY. For the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), the government has allocated Rs191.51 billion. The government has also increased the salaries of government employees by 15% on their basic salaries as of 2017. Khetran also informed the House that the government had increased pensions by 15%.
Balochistan would receive Rs370.33 billion from the federal government under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. Khetran elaborated that the government had launched 3,470 development projects in the budget and allocated a sum of Rs59 billion for this purpose.
He added that Rs133 billion were allocated for 3,367 ongoing development projects in Balochistan.  The provincial finance minister informed the House that the present government had created 2,850 vacancies in various departments to provide jobs to the unemployed people in the province.
He added that 524 and 831 vacancies were available in the health and education departments respectively.
In the health sector, the finance minister informed the House that the government had upgraded 16 district headquarters medical facilities to teaching hospitals in Balochistan to improve these facilities in the province.
He said the government had allocated Rs6.60 billion in the budget to provide free medicines to patients in Balochistan. On education, the minister said the government had already recruited 1,913 senior science teachers through the Balochistan Public Service Commission (BPSC).
He added that the government had allocated Rs300 million for shelter-less schools in Balochistan, 103 new primary schools would be opened in the province and 60 schools be upgraded.