June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

KARACHI, June 14: The Senior Sindh Minister, Syed Sardar Ahmad, is presenting a Rs225 to Rs230 billion budget of his province on Friday afternoon on the floor of the Sindh Assembly.

The budget incorporates an ambitious Rs50 billion development outlay; of which Rs10 to Rs12 billion will be given to districts and the remaining will be taken up by the provincial government.

This is the second consecutive budget which is drawn up on the basis of resources made available by the federal government under President Musharraf’s formula given in the year 2005.

Contacts made with assembly members revealed that the Opposition benches are all set to create a rumpus on “unconstitutional budget’’ in the house.

The federal government has indicated to offer Rs170 to Rs180 billion resources by way of Sindh’s share in federal taxes pool, grants and foreign loans.

About Rs20 billion will be raised by the provincial government. The indicated deficit in the budget is being estimated around Rs15 to Rs20 billion.

“There has been a lot of debate, and discussion is going on in government circles — between politicians ands bureaucrats and among leaders of ruling political parties — on distribution of development funds,’’ a well-placed source confided who said the ADP size was reviewed and revised at least half a dozen times before giving it a final shape.

The political leaders of ruling parties want to make development budget as much attractive for their own constituencies as possible as this is an election year.

The finance bill will rationalise minor adjustments and rationalisation in provincial taxes as according to the source no major initiative is being taken in levies that may create hard feelings in the 40 million population of the province.

The Sindh government is taking up over a dozen federal government-funded mega projects in the province.

For these projects, Islamabad offered Rs10 billion in the current fiscal year and is giving over Rs12 billion in the next fiscal year. In last five years, as much as about Rs200 billion development funds have been invested in the province.

The Punjab government has started monitoring gross domestic production of the province which was found to be more than 53 per cent of the national economy and growth was about eight per cent in 2006-07.

The Sindh government has not been able to work out a mechanism to monitor GDP indicators. But analysts and economists believe that Sindh’s share in national economy is about 27 to 28 per cent even if it is not showing signs of growth tempo that was seen in the 60s and 70s.

Sindh’s share in oil and gas is highest in Pakistan. It has largest fisheries resources. Sindh boasts of highest coal reserves in the region. It is rich in many other minerals. Karachi is hub of services sector and still retains a big industrial base. Sindh harvested a record bumper crop of over 3 million tons wheat this season. It gave a good crop of cotton and sugarcane. Sindh collects 65 per cent of national tax revenue.