Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha has said that Punjab owes Rs 568 billion in debt, which is only 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The finance minister was concluding the budget debate in the Punjab Assembly on Friday. It might be mentioned that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was also present in the House in an effort to complete the required quorum, as the finance minister remained unsuccessful to conclude the budget debate two days ago due to lack of quorum.

Though Dr Ayesha did not announce any amendment to the proposed budget she clarified some ambiguities in the budget and confirmed that the government had not reduced agriculture sector privileges. She informed the House that the incumbent government had no plan to cut privileges for farmers under the Kissan Package. She said that federal government had withdrawn the general sales tax on fertilisers and there was no need of any subsidy in this regard.

Dr Ayesha said that all stakeholders, including the Lahore Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), were taken into confidence during the budget preparation – a claim rejected by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed legislator Mian Aslam Iqbal, who said the opposition was not taken into confidence during budget preparations. Anyhow, the finance minister went on to say that the government would not impose any extra burden on masses and added that the loans been taken from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), “on only one percent interest rate”, would be used for education sector.

She said that development schemes proposed by the opposition and some of the treasury members could not be accommodated in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2017-18 due to limited resources. She brushed aside the opposition’s claim of reduction in education budget, and said that the government had earmarked Rs 33 billion more for the education sector as compared to the last year. Referring to the proposed outsourcing of 10,000 government schools, she said the financing of the schools would be done by the government. She claimed that outsourcing of schools to NGOs had resulted in increased enrolment of students.

The minister added that the government had allocated Rs 460 million for purchasing of ventilators at public hospitals across the province.

Soon after the finance minister concluded her speech the chief minister left the House, while the treasury members also followed him as not more than 70 legislators were left in the House

Later, Mian Aslam Iqbal of the PTI said that the government had accepted its failure in better management of schools that was why it had decided to hand over schools to the private sector.