The Sindh Cabinet on Tuesday approved a 20 per cent increase in salaries of government employees, besides setting the minimum wage at Rs25,000 in the province, according to its spokesperson Murtaza Wahab.

The decision came hours before the budget for the new fiscal year was set to be introduced in the provincial assembly.

"Sindh Cabinet has approved an increase of 20pc in the salary of Govt employees & also set the minimum wage at Rs25,000 in the province," Wahab tweeted, hours before the budget was to be introduced in the provincial assembly. "No new tax is being introduced by Sindh Govt," he added.

The percentage increase in salaries of government employees is double that proposed by the federal government, which has suggested a hike of 10pc. Moreover, the minimum wage proposed by the provincial government is also higher than that put forward by the Centre, which has proposed to set it at Rs20,000.

Expenditure-oriented budget

Earlier this week, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had told Dawn that the provincial budget would be expenditure-oriented with a substantial increase in development spending as Rs300 billion was being allocated to this portfolio.

“Besides, the health, education and social protection will be the primary focus in the budget,” he had added.

Shah further said that pro-poor schemes could not be taken up aggressively because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “They will get substantial allocations in this year too,” he said.

The chief minister said that districts would get increased allocation for their development portfolios and local council budgets were also being substantially increased.