KP caretaker govt approves Rs198 bn budget

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker government on Thursday approved Rs198 billion budget for the first quarter (July-October) of the next financial year (2018-19) with a development outlay of Rs53.1 billion for the period.

The provincial government on the pattern of federal setup also approved 10 per cent ad-hoc relief allowance in salaries and pension of the government employees. It also approved to increase the minimum pension from Rs6,000 to Rs10,000 and family pension from Rs4,500 to Rs7,500 and increased minimum pension to Rs15,000 for the pensioners above the age of 75.

The budget document shows that 10 per cent ad-hoc relief allowance on running pay to all provincial government employees would have the financial implication of Rs14.18 billion, while the grant of 50 per cent increase in the rate of house rent would also cost Rs4.96 billion.

To a question, he said there would ban on the purchase of new vehicles except for ambulances, earth moving machinery, fire trucks, tractors, non-luxury police vehicles, prisoner vans, motorcycles, water bowser trucks, recovery/rescue vehicles, rescue/life-saving boats.

The caretaker provincial government also approved the austerity measures mapped out by the Finance Department for the next financial year. However, neither any discretionary funds have been approved nor any revision in the provincial taxes okayed by the caretaker government.

Briefing the media at the Cabinet Room of the Civil Secretariat, the caretaker provincial Finance Minister Abdur Rauf Khan Khattak said the previous provincial government had not announced the budget for the next financial year.

The minister added that the budget was prepared and approved as "life support" measure and the directives of the ECP were taken into account during the budget-making process. Earlier, the cabinet approved authorisation for the incurrence of expenditure, both current and development, for the quarter commencing from 1st July 2018 and ending on October 31, 2018, out of Provincial Consolidated Fund.

Secretary Finance Shakeel Qadir Khan gave a detailed presentation to the cabinet on the budgetary estimates and measures sketched out for the next financial fiscal. The finance minister told the media persons that four-month's authorised expenditures include Rs145 billion current and non-salary budget, which comes to 73 per cent of the total approved expenditures. It also includes Rs53.1 billion development budget, which is 24.4 per cent of the total approved expenditures.

The province will get Rs24.4 billion of the development funds, Rs9.8 billion will go to the district development schemes, while projects of Foreign Project Assistance (FPA) will get Rs18.9 per cent. The minister said the local governments would receive Rs66.40 billion during the July-October quarter of the next financial year. He said that the salary component of the current expenditures will get Rs84.2 billion, while the pension head will receive Rs20 billion and Rs3 billion would spend on loans repayment and Rs3 billion have been approved for wheat subsidy.

Rauf Khattak said that Rs30 billion had been set aside for the office expenditures, while Rs2.7 approved as capital expenditures. The total approved development estimates are pitched at Rs108.32 billion for the financial year with the province's own share of Rs34.29 billion (for four months) and Rs74 billion foreign assistance.