Balochistan’s Rs419 billion budget presented

QUETTA: Balochistan’s Finance Minister Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi presented the provincial budget for 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs419 billion on Wednesday.

Salaries and pensions of government employees have been increased by 10 percent. The total development budget has been set at Rs108 billion while non-development budget would be Rs257 billion. The opposition created ruckus in the Balochistan Assembly but the finance minister continued his budget speech. The budget deficit is Rs48 billion and Rs55.72 billion have been set for education and Rs14.95 billion have been allocated for higher education. For health,Rs34.18 billion, for law and order Rs44.70 billion, Rs2.50 billion for mining while Rs2.98 billion were allocated for livestock and forests in the budget. One fifty new federal projects would be started in the province while 100 projects with the help of foreign donors would also be started. Rs28 billion have been set for water projects in the province. For industry, Rs19.7 billion and Rs1.60 billion for sports and tourism have been allocated in the budget. Besides this, the province would receive Rs2.81 trillion from federal government and Rs34 billion for its resources. The province would also get Rs10 billion as gas development surcharge.