Previous budget: Finance adviser says Rs148 billion released for uplift

PESHAWAR: Adviser to Chief Minister on Finance Muzzammil Aslam on Wednesday said that the total release of provincial funds in the previous budget stood at 103 percent, while expenditures hovered around 86 percent.

In a statement, he stated that in the previous budget, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had allocated Rs144 billion for development funds, but instead of Rs144 billion, Rs148 billion were actually released. He added that the total release of provincial funds stood at 103 percent, while expenditures hovered around 86 percent.

The finance adviser added that in contrast, the federal government had allocated Rs272 billion for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of which only Rs131 billion were released.Muzzammil Aslam noted that the combined release of federal and foreign funding amounted to approximately 48 percent.

He emphasized that the blame for the low release of funds by the federal government should not be placed on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that opponents were afraid of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s excellent financial performance.