Development suffers as Centre fails to pay K-P

K-P supposed to get more than Rs47 billion under various heads

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government is facing a budget deficit of over Rs14 billion due to the federal government’s delay in transferring two months taxes and surcharge set aside for the province in the annual federal budget. According to some, this is affecting development projects in K-P.

An official at the Civil Secretariat told The Express Tribune on Saturday the federal government was supposed to pay more than Rs47 billion for the months of July and August to the K-P government but so far it has only paid Rs32.74 billion.

“The Centre is dragging its feet on the issue which has in turn put considerable pressure on the provincial government’s finances,” he said while requesting anonymity.

According to documents available with The Express Tribune, under the heads of various taxes in which K-P has a share, the federal government has to pay Rs47.27 billion in the first two months of the 2014-15 fiscal year but the province has received a partial amount.

K-P’s share from the federal taxes for the said period is Rs37.8 billion but it has received only over Rs32 billion.

Under the head of war on terror, the K-P government should have been given Rs4.5 billion but the federal government has so far released only Rs3 billion, while for the oil and gas surcharge, the province should have received Rs4.8 billion but it has received only Rs4.3 billion.

An official of the finance department confirmed that K-P was supposed to get more Rs47 billion under various heads, including 1% of the federal divisible pool of taxes for being on the forefront of the fight against militancy, surcharge on oil and gas, as well as excise duty on oil and gas production in the province.

“The lingering issue of non-payment is affecting development projects in the province,” said an official of the planning and development department.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2014.