Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Tuesday presented its budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 with an expected revenue outlay of Rs 505 billion and an annual development programme of Rs 161 billion.

Finance Minister Muzafar Said presented the budget in the provincial assembly. Speaking on the floor of the KP Assembly, the finance minister said the provincial government expected to receive Rs 293.7 billion from the federal divisible pool. He said it would receive Rs 35.3 billion for maintenance of law and order in the province. The province also expected to receive Rs 17.2 billion as royalty on natural gas and oil being extracted from southern districts and Rs 18.7 billion as net hydel profit.

The province expects to collect Rs 49.7 billion through taxation and non-taxation means. Out of the Rs 49.7 billion, the government expects to collect Rs 10 billion through general sale tax and Rs 12.7 billion by leasing out the state-owned land to commercial ventures. The finance minister said the provincial kitty also expected Rs 6 billion from the auction of forest wood. A sum of Rs 11.85 billion saved during the previous years has been earmarked for additional expenditure. Under the hydel development fund, the government will provide Rs 15 billion for the development of hydel powerhouses in the province. Similarly, the government has earmarked a sum of Rs 161 billion for the Annual Development Programme.

Divulging the details, the minister said the province would collect Rs 125 billion from own resources and Rs 36 billion through foreign assistance.

To ensure development work, he added, the province would receive a loan of Rs 12.2 billion from the Bank of Khyber and the Asian Development Bank. Of the expenditure, the minister said the government would spend Rs 344 billion out of Rs 505 billion on the ongoing projects.

The government has also allocated a sum of Rs 111.52 billion for the education sector. A huge portion of the education budget i.e. Rs 102 billion will be spent on the elementary and secondary education, while Rs 9.5 billion have been allocated for higher education. The allocation for education has been increased by 15 per cent compared to the last year.

For the health sector, the provincial government has earmarked Rs 38.42 billion. Separately, a sum of Rs 1.69 billion has been allocated for social welfare, special education and women empowerment projects.

Other areas, including police, will receive Rs 32.94 billion; irrigation Rs 3.42 billion; vocational training and technical education Rs 1.97 billion; sports, culture and tourism Rs 600 million; agriculture Rs 3.8 billion; and environment and forestry Rs 2 billion.

The minister said the financial budget for the year 2016-17 had been categorised under the welfare, development and administrative heads. He elaborated that Rs 294.22 billion had been earmarked for welfare projects that was 61 per cent of the total budget.

He added that welfare budget had been increased by 12 per cent from the last year. Similarly, Rs 49.78 billion have been reserved for administrative expenditure that was 10 per cent of the total budget. Under the ADP, Rs 161 billion have been allocated for developmental expenditure in the province. The ADP outlay stands at 32 per cent of the total budget for 2016-17.

To provide relief to the working class, the provincial government announced a 10 per cent increase in the salaries of all government employees and set Rs 14,000 as minimum wage for the unskilled labour.

The provincial minister announced regularisation of the services of 13,200 lady health workers and suggested recruitment of 1,088 vaccinators at the union council level across the province.