QUETTA: The Balochistan government is all set to present the next fiscal year’s budget on Monday (today), with an expected outlay of Rs700 billion.

The budget is expected to be presented by Balochistan Finance Minister Zamrak Khan Piralizai in the provincial assembly. It was previously scheduled for Friday, but the finance department put it off for three days.

The date for the budget announcement was extended as MPAs and ministers belonging to different political parties had suggested new development schemes in the budget, APP quoted sources in the finance department as saying.

The preparation for the budget was in progress until late in the evening on Sunday. The budget proposal would be presented in the provincial cabinet meeting on Monday and, once approved, the finance minister would present the budget in the house.

Rs200bn likely for development projects

Though the province faces a huge gap in income and expenditure, its financial managers were making efforts to allocate over Rs200bn on development over the next fiscal year (2023-24). It will likely be a deficit budget as there will be a big gap between available resources and expenditures.

Balochistan will get Rs445bn during the next fiscal year from federal resources under the National Finance Commission Award, meant to distribute financial resources between the federal government and the provinces.

The total available resources were estimated at around Rs530bn, meaning there would be a deficit of Rs180bn to Rs190bn.

Sources said that around 5,000 jobs would be created in the next financial year in different departments.

The non-development budget will also go up as the provincial government, in line with the federal budget, was expected to announce a pay rise from 35 per cent for Grade 1 to 16 employees and 30pc for those in Grade 17 to 22. Similarly, the pension of the retired provincial employees will also increase by 17.5pc.

In the upcoming budget, Rs5.8bn will likely go to health cards and Rs2.7bn to medicines in government hospitals.

Besides, Rs2bn is accepted to be allocated for the Balochistan Education Endowment Fund and the amount for the pension fund; Rs1bn is expected to be spent on food security and Rs750 million for People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023