KARACHI: The deficit finance bill 2017-18 of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has been converted into a balanced budget thanks to a council resolution seeking an increase of Rs 310 million depending upon octroi and zila tax. Hanif Surti and Khurrum Farhan, members of the council had jointly presented the addendum to the bill through a resolution at the council’s meeting. The council accepted the resolution without any hitch. “The KMC has narrowly escaped losing its control on the financial system of the entity by adopting this resolution, said Ghulam Arif, former Sindh Local Government Department chief secretary. According to the Sindh Local Council Budget Rules 2017, “The surplus potential of the council for a year shall be the excess of revenue income over revenue expenditure, and where there is no surplus potential, the budget will not be balanced.” It is pertinent to mention here that the Sindh Finance Department takes over the finances of a civic body in case of a deficit budget. According to rules, the budget of the council shall as far as possible be balanced and the revenue and development expenditure shall not exceed the revenue and capital receipts of the council. But when a deficit budget is unavoidable, the fact shall be brought to the notice of government by May 1 before presenting the budget. Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar had presented the KMC’s Rs 27,135.67 million budget for financial year 2017-18 last Monday. Qamar Qureshi, president Economic Forum Pakistan, while commenting on the matter said that the move was a direct violation of the rules, which needed to be investigated by a competent body. Published in Daily Times, June 22nd, 2017.