'People-friendly' budget

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her cabinet have put forward a "people-friendly" Rs5.34 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2026-27, with many experts struggling to determine which people it is friendly for. Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman presented the document in the assembly with the usual fanfare, but the slogans of relief and prosperity were not enough to completely hide away the complicated story within the numbers.

There are certainly positives. No new taxes have been imposed for the third consecutive year. Salaries for government employees have been increased by 7 per cent, and pensions by 3.5 per cent. Spending on education and health is also up, by Rs750 billion and Rs500 billion, respectively. But at the same time, while the total budget outlay has increased by 10.7 per cent and now stands in excess of Rs5.9 trillion, the Annual Development Programme has been slashed by almost 40 per cent, crashing from last year's Rs1.24 trillion to just Rs752 billion. Given Punjab's raw size, this spending is just a pittance.

Even if we ignore the Rs546 billion grant to the federal government - to provide the Centre with extra liquidity - Punjab's budget surplus was still so big that it is fair to question why the Maryam Nawaz-led government went so far beyond even the IMF's loan requirement for regular surpluses. There are several areas in the budget that have a justifiable need for additional funding. Punjab may be the most developed province of the country, but it is still nowhere near being in a position to just leave cash on the table.

Unfortunately, while the opposition did raise this issue in the House, its overwhelming priority remains partisanship, rather than finding areas of agreement and cooperation that could yield results for the whole province. That leaves the citizens being squeezed for revenue in the unenviable position of watching their taxes going unutilised.