KARACHI, June 15: The Sindh Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad is presenting on Wednesday afternoon the provincial budget for 2004- 05, which is expected to indicate a total outlay of Rs110 billion.

Sources indicate the development budget outlay at Rs15 billion while the revenue expenditure budget would be of about Rs95 billion. The budgetary resources are based on federal transfers worked out on the basis of 1997 National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

The constitutional term of this NFC award has expired in 2002. This is the third consecutive year when the budget is being drawn up on an expired NFC formula. The budgetary planners also face burden of about Rs4 billion additional expenditure because of the 15 per cent ad hoc relief given to the government employees by the Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz.

With no apparent hint of getting any subvention or grant from the federal government the Sindh budget for 2004-05 will show a wide deficit. The previous finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh presented the first revenue surplus budget in 2002-03 but did not show any fund for Rs7 billion annual development programme.

In the current fiscal year too, the Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad presented a revenue surplus budget but with no indication for fund to finance Rs11 billion ADP.

"We provided the funds for our ADP from savings and squeezing revenue expenditures," Syed Sardar Ahmad informed a press conference last week while expressing confidence that the Sindh government was in a position to finance its total budgetary outlay of revenue and development from its own resources.

He was, however, skeptical of financing the additional burden of Rs4 billion because of relief being given to the government employees. "We will request Islamabad for a grant to finance this additional burden," he said.