Category: Pakistan

QUETTA: Balochistan on Friday proposed a Rs584.1 billion budget for the next fiscal year that carries a hefty development stimulus of Rs237.2bn and resource shortfall of Rs84.6bn amid rare violent protest by the opposition.

The opposition lawmakers from the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Balochistan National PartyMengal and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and independent members along with their supporters have been camping outside the assembly building for the last few days in protest against the provincial coalition government led by chief minister Jam Kamal Alyani for its refusal to allocate development funds for their constituencies in the next year`s budget.

The opposition parties had blocked national highways passing through many cities and towns of Balochistan, including Quetta,Chagai, Washuk, Kharan and Nushki, in protest against the government on Thursday. They had announced that they would not allow the government to present the budget unless their suggested development schemes were made part of the provincial Annual Development Programme for the next year.

The budget session was delayed by at least two hours because of the protests as the opposition lawmakers had locked the assembly gates from inside to prevent the treasury members from entering the building. The police had to break open the gate of the MPAs Hostel using an armoured vehicle to let the treasury lawmakers enter the building.

Three opposition members of the assembly were reported to have suffered injuries when they tried to impede the police vehicle from breaking open the gate. They were identified as Ahmed Nawaz Baloch, Babu Rahim and Abdul Wahid Siddiqui. Later, police clashed with the protesters outside the assembly as they refused to clear the premises.

The area outside the assembly presented the picture of a battleground for some time as police used batons and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd to open the main entrance. A few unidentified activists of the opposition parties vandalised the assembly building and attacked the chief minister and some of his cabinet colleagues.

Bushra Rind, the chief minister`s adviser and parliamentary secretary on information,     suffered minor injuries. MPA Sana Baloch said the opposition lawmakers would meet to decide whether to lodge an FIR against the provincial government over the police action against the protesters. Several hundred policemen had been deployed in and around the assembly and all roads leading to it were closed by parking heavy trucks and erecting fences, causing a massive traffic logjam in the provincial capital.

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakthunkhwa government here on Friday presented Rs1,118.3 billion balanced budget for financial year 2021-22, having a record allocation of Rs 371 billion for annual development program (ADP) and Rs747.3 billion for current budget expenditure.

The KP government has announced a record 37pc increase in salaries of all those employees who did not take special allowances from Government. Presenting the third budget of KP Government in KP Assembly, Finance Minister, Taimur Salim Jhagra said out of the total budget allocation, Rs919 billion earmarked for settled districts and Rs199.3 billion for development of merged tribal districts during FY 2021-22. Out of total Rs371 billion ADP,

KP Government earmarked Rs270.7 billion for settled districts and Rs100.3 billion for merged tribal districts. Likewise, Rs648.3 billion earmarked for settled districts and Rs 99 billion for merged districts in total allocation of Rs747.3 billion for current budget expenditure.

The minister said present budget was based on five main pillars including a record increase in salaries of government employees, development budget, devoted services to people, increasing KP’s own resource revenue and introduction of goal oriented reforms and innovation in the overall governance system. He said two innovative approaches ‘development plus budget’ and ‘service delivery budget’ were being introduced under which Rs500 billion would be spent on former focusing on mega projects,

such as Sehat Plus Cards, provision of furniture to Govt schools and increase in medicines budget to public sector hospitals while Rs424 billion out of Rs747 billion would be spent on the latter with priorities to payment of salaries of doctors, nurses, and teachers besides provision of medicines to hospitals and fuels to Rescue1122 ambulances. About generation of income and revenue during 2021-22, the minister said Rs1018 billion revenue and income target was set for FY 2021-22 that would be achieved from different financial resources, duties and taxes.

He said Rs475.6 billion would be collected through federal taxes, Rs57.2 billion through federal divisible pool of 1pc share under terrorism affected province, Rs26.5 billion under Gas and Oil royalty and surcharge (direct transfer), Rs74.7 billion under hydle new profit (according to MoU 2015-16) and arrears, Rs75billion for provincial tax and non-tax revenue, Rs85.8 billion through foreign development assistance (for settled areas) and Rs3.3 billion foreign development assistance (for merged areas), Rs187.7billion under special assistance grant for the merged areas and Rs132.5billion from other revenue resources. About details of expenditure budget during FY2021-22, the minister said total of Rs374 billion would be spent on salaries including Rs 60billion in merged areas and Rs314 billion in settled districts.

Similarly Rs92.1 billion would be utilized for payment of pension including Rs0.1billion for merged areas and Rs92billion for settled districts. Besides salaries, Rs203.9billion would be spent for operation and maintenance expenditures, emergencies and district expenses including Rs38.9billion for merged areas and Rs164.9 billion while Rs74.4billion for other current expenditures.

Rs244.6billion proposed for expenditures under Provincial Development Program including Integrated Implementation Program (AIP) for merged areas, he said, adding Rs17.4billion earmarked for Annual Development Program including Rs2.4billion for merged areas and Rs85.8billion for settled districts while a record Rs19.9billion to be obtained from Federal government PSDP.

The salaries of all government employees except those who didn’t get special allowances are being increased to 37% including 20% increase in Functional or Sectoral Allowance, 10% increase in Adhoc Relief Allowance, 7% in house rent for those employees who don’t benefited from government’s accommodation scheme.

Jhagra said 100% increase in pension expenditure has been witnessed in last couple of years and share of pensions, which was only 1% in 2003-04 had jumped to record 13.8 percent of total budget in 2021-22. To overcome pension expenses, he said two proposals including increase in upper age limit of Govt employees ie 55 years for early retirement up or completion of 25 years service were under consideration that would save Rs12billion per year. Similarly, Rs1 billion per year would be saved from change in the pension rules under which widow, children and parents of deceased employees would be entitled for pension benefits. The minister announced that minimum wages of labourers and daily wagers were being increased to Rs 21,000.

NUT desk- ISLAMABAD: The Foreign exchange reserve held by the State Bank of Pakistan increased by US$ 2 million to US$16,417.3 million during the week ending on June 11, 2021, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported Thursday. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at US $23,586.5 million. According the break-up figures, the foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stood at US $16,417.3 million whereas the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at US$7,169.2 million. During the week ending June 11, SBP received US $2 million.