Budget 2016: Balochistan Assembly approves budget

QUETTA: With barely any debate, and without the government even releasing the detailed documents of the provincial budget, the Balochistan Assembly approved the Rs230 billion budget for fiscal 2016. Given the fact that the opposition boycotted the debate, there were virtually no changes between the budget presented by Mir Khalid Langove, Finance Adviser to Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch, exactly one week ago on June 17. The budget will include Rs55 billion for development expenditures. The session that approved the budget was chaired by Deputy Speaker Dudos Bezinjo. Langov also presented supplementary budgets for overspending during the fiscal year that endED June 30, all of which were also approved by the Balochistan Assembly. The budget drew criticism from economists and opposition parties after the government failed to improve revenue generation, despite having gained financial autonomy five years ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.