GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government has presented a Rs116 billion budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.

Finance Minister Javed Ali Manwa presented the budget in the GB Assembly on Tuesday. The budget session was chaired by Speaker Nazir Ahmed Advocate.

In his budget speech Mr Manwa said Rs74bn has been proposed for non-development expenses, of which, Rs 51bn is estimated as receipts in grants from the centre. The GB government has also set a tax collection target of Rs5bn.

The budget deficit was estimated at Rs18bn.

Rs2.45bn has been allocated for development schemes, while Rs19.50bn will be spent on the ongoing projects under the Annual Development Plan. The federal government has allocated Rs7.95 bn in PSDP for the region.

Deficit estimated at Rs18bn; Rs51bn as receipts in grants from the centre

The government would spend an estimated Rs13.70bn on wheat procurement and Rs10.50bn will be received from the centre for providing subsidy on wheat.

Education and health

Mr Manwa said his government has given special attention to the education sector and allocated Rs350 million for the appointment of 1,000 IT teachers in the region’s schools.

Separately, Rs150m will be spent on adding new facilities in existing schools and Rs165m on the provision of free books.

Rs50m each has been set aside for the EdTech and teachers’ training programmes.

For the health sector, the government will spend Rs400m on the provision of free medicines, Rs300m to upgrade district headquarter hospitals and Rs400m to induct expert doctors.

Rs500m has been allocated for the agriculture and livestock sector, according to Mr Manwa.

He said the region always depended on grant-in-aid from the federal government to manage its finances. The financial difficulties faced by the country have direct and indirect impact on Gilgit-Baltistan.

He announced that government employees from grades 1 to 16 will get a 35 per cent raise in their basic salaries as an “ad hoc relief”, while grade 17 and above employees’ basic salaries will go up by 30pc.

The government has also decided to ban the purchase of all kinds of vehicles, except for ambulances and school buses.

A complete ban on foreign trips of government employees at official expense has also been banned. “It has been decided to impose a complete ban on lavish official events,” Mr Manwa said, adding that these events will take place virtually to prevent unnecessary use of government resources.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2023