Daily Times

The Balochistan government on Friday unveiled the Rs930 billion surplus budget for next fiscal year 2024-25, allocating a major chunk for development sector.

Balochistan Finance Minister Shoaib Ahmed Nosherwani presented the budget in the provincial assembly. The mister the salaries of the government employees of Grade 1 to 16 would be jacked up by 25 percent while the officers from Grade 17 to 22 would get an increase of 22pc. The government has also proposed 15pc increase in pensions of the retired government employees.

The provincial government has set aside Rs321 billion for development sector. For the first time in the history of Balochistan, 70 percent of the approved development projects have been made part of the budget proposal. It has earmarked Rs149 billion for education sector, which is significantly higher than previous fiscal year. It has set aside Rs118 billion for construction of schools, which will create 535 new jobs. This year, the provincial government is giving priority to health sector as it has increased the budget for it by 30 percent to Rs67 billion. It aims at creating 242 new jobs in this sector.

The government has allocated Rs84 billion for law and order in the province while 7,000 new jobs in police and levies departments would be created. It has set aside Rs6.81 billion for agriculture sector. Meanwhile, the non-development budget for this sector stands at Rs16 billion. The provincial government has allocated Rs5 billion for fisheries sector.

It has also allocated Rs1.2 billion for food department, Rs2 billion for forest department, Rs3.7 billion for industries and Rs7 billion for solar energy.