KP presents Rs923b budget: Health sector gets priority with Rs124b allocation

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday presented Rs923 billion budget for the financial year 2020-21 out of which Rs317.8 billion have been allocated for the development sector.

Finance Minister Taimur Salim Jhagra presented the budget that included Rs739 billion for the settled districts and Rs183.9 billion for the erstwhile Fata, now called newly merged districts. Of the Rs605.2 billion current budget, Rs517.2 billion were proposed for the settled and Rs88.0 billion for the merged districts.

Of the Rs317.8 billion development budget, Rs221.9 billion was allocated for the settled and Rs95.9 billion for the merged districts. In the budget, the health sector was given top priority with the allocation of Rs124 billion. Of this significant amount keeping in view the havoc caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Rs105.9 billion were set aside for the settled districts compared to the last year's Rs87 billion. Rs24.4 billion were earmarked for development work including Rs13.8 billion for settled and Rs10.6 billion for the merged districts.

In order to equip hospitals and ensure availability of medicines, Rs36 billion has been earmarked for Medical and Teaching Institutes (MTIs). Of this amount, Rs26 billion are meant for the MTIs current budget, Rs4 billion for vital projects and Rs6 billion for special ‘on-demand fund’. For medicines, the purchase fund has been enhanced to Rs4 billion from Rs2.5 billion and Rs1 billion for waste management through private sector. In addition to the health budget, Rs24 billion emergency fund for combating Covid-19 has been proposed which include coronavirus expenditures, Shuhada compensation package for those who lose their lives in the frontline of the fight against the virus, buying protective gear, testing and Ehsaas Programme. The total budget receipts were estimated at Rs923 billion. This included Rs713 billion as general revenue receipts, Rs 49 billion as provincial own revenue receipts and Rs161 billion as a grant from the federal government to fund the budget of the merged areas prior to the settlement of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

For education, Rs30.20 billion has been allocated while Rs11.43 billion was proposed to be spent on energy projects and Rs42.34 billion on roads. For local governments, Rs4.85 billion have been allocated while Rs16 billion was earmarked for payment of the interest on loans. The budget is tax-free as was being indicated before its presentation.