Balochistan govt unveils Rs930bn ‘surplus’ budget

QUETTA: The Balochistan government on Friday presented the budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 budget of Rs930 billion with Rs25 billion surplus in the provincial assembly.

During the budget speech, Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Shoaib Noshirwani said that Rs609 billion had been allocated for non-development expenditures while Rs321 billion had been allocated for developmental expenses.

The education and health have been prioritised in the budget as separate Rs146.9 billion and Rs20 billion have been earmarked for the two sectors, respectively. For the first time in the history of Balochistan, 70% of the approved development projects have been made part of the budget proposal, the minister said.

The government has put the health and sector on priority in the budget for the next financial year 2024-25. Noshirwani said that over Rs23.8 billion had been allocated for the development of the agriculture sector while over Rs1billion was for food security.

The minister also announced an increase of 25% in salaries of government employees from Grade 1 to 16, and 22% for Grade 17 to 22, besides a 15% increase in pensions.

Moreover, livestock, mineral and mines development projects have also been included in the provincial budget. The provincial budget for Balochistan is the latest among the federal and provincial budgets for other provinces. Centre and provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh presented their respective budgets earlier during the last two weeks, while and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government presented its budget in May.

The provincial budget for FY25 followed the Balochistan cabinet’s approval of the budget proposal earlier today. The provincial cabinet agreed to include 100% approved development projects in the budget for the next financial year.

Speaking on the occasion, CM Sarfraz Bugti said that the work on the development projects of the new financial year would be started from the first month of the upcoming fiscal.

He added that all provincial ministers and assembly members will personally monitor the development projects in their respective departments and constituencies.

CM Bugti said that no more funds would be released to the departments showing laziness in implementing projects in order to encourage the authorities concerned to complete the approved development projects on time.