| CM to present Sindh budget for 2008-09 today |
| Monday, 16 June 2008 | |
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Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah will present the budget for the year 2008-09 in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Monday evening (today). The size of the budget will likely be over Rs275 billion. This will be the first time that a CM will present the budget in the house himself. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government has not appointed a finance minister for Sindh thus far, and the CM has been looking after the financial matters of the province to date. Before the budget is presented in the parliament, the Sindh cabinet will meet to approve the proposals. In another meeting, party members will also be taken into confidence regarding the budget. Both meetings will be held at the Chief Minister House. According to sources, the development budget will be estimated to be over Rs70 billion, up Rs20 billion compared to last year’s budget of Rs50 billion. The decision by the PPP to significantly increase the development budget is accompanied by a reduction in non-development expenditure. However, experts indicated that the Sindh government would be depending on the federal government for substantial funding. It was also indicated that the revenue in the budget was estimated at about Rs200 billion while, last year, this was Rs181 billion. The federal government has already increased the funds for all four provinces and Sindh would be getting about Rs169 billion, compared to Rs141.59 billion last year. The federal government increased the provinces’ share because the previous government, headed by prime minister Shaukat Aziz, failed to give put forward the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and the funds were allocated based on revenue collection. The Sindh share in the divisible pool is expected to increase to Rs126.12 billion in 2008-09 depending entirely on how efficiently the Federal Board of Revenue collects the projected amount of Rs1.25 trillion. Under direct transfers, Sindh will get its share in royalty on crude oil, natural gas, gas development surcharge, excise duty on gas and share in provincial GST. Sources said it was expected that the provincial government would also increase the wages of almost half a million employees. According to officials, it was estimated that the wage budget would be increased to cater to the government’s desire to increase salaries and to make 45,000 more appointments to overcome unemployment in the province. The government is also expected to increase its education, health, public health and other social sector budgets as was promised in the party manifesto. Funds will also be allocated for the construction of new small dams and water reservoirs, as was approved by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who had directed the government to build them on a war-footing basis to fulfil the needs of the province. |
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