Sindh budget for remaining fiscal year to be unveiled today

The Sindh government’s budget for the remaining period of the financial year 2018-19 -- from October 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, -- is set to be presented today.

The budget will be presented at 10am, on the floor of the provincial assembly, said a statement on Sunday.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who holds the portfolio of the finance department, will likely deliver the speech in the house to present the government’s budgetary estimates for the nine-month period.

Before the completion of its tenure, the previous government of the Pakistan Peoples Party had on May 28 got a three-month budget passed by the house to be used by the new government till September 30.

The government had presented a budget of Rs1.144 trillion in the provincial assembly on May 10. Shah, who was CM at the time, had said that approving the provincial budget of only the first three months would allow the upcoming provincial government after the general elections to do desirable adjustments in the budget for rest of the fiscal year as per its own mandate to rule in the province.

Earlier, a special budget session of the Sindh Assembly (PA) scheduled to be held on Friday had been postponed until September 17.

There was no official word about the reason the special session of the provincial legislature had been postponed, but sources privy to the development said the decision had been taken in view of the nationwide mourning for the death of Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Lawmakers belonging to the ruling PPP attended a meeting at the Chief Minister House on Sunday so that the parliamentary party could discuss a strategy for the special budget session.