KARACHI, June 17: Sindh government can boast of releasing the heaviest load of budget documents every year. Neither the federal government nor any three other provincial governments come out with such a heavy load.
Almost a dozen documents spread over more than a thousand pages, the Sindh budget 2003-04 hardly gives any information. These documents conceal more than reveal.
The budget documents do not include the finance bill. On Monday, the Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmad, after he had struggled hard to deliver budget speech on the assembly floor amidst noise and shouts of the opposition members, told journalists that a copy of finance bill has been kept in the heavy load of budget documents. But when it was opened there was no such document. It was later revealed that Sardar and many other ‘gods of wisdom’ in the coalition government were of the view that until the assembly approves the finance bill, it should not be made public.
One wonders if all these people in Sindh government know that the first document demanded by the journalists after federal finance minister delivers his budget speech is the copy of the finance bill. If for any reason, the finance minister is unable to deliver the copy of finance bill, it is a front page news in every newspaper. Provincial finance bill may not be as newsworthy as the finance bill of the federal budget, yet it serves a reference purpose.
Syed Sardar Ahmad is a retired civil servant. For long he has served in districts and like all district operators he does not feel shy in misinforming anyone who approaches him with a request for certain information. He did so on Monday.
On Tuesday, he addressed a post-budget press conference. He said that the government will make a monthly review of the budget and that it was a performance budget. “But the documents you gave us tell nothing of actual financial results of the previous year’s budget,” a journalist asked. Visibly irritated on this question he hit back “it takes three years to collect actual information on financial performance of the government.”
“Then how would you assess the financial performance of your government every month,” a logical follow up question was put to him which remained unanswered.
A post-budget press conference is more a circus than a serious question-answer session which should help in clarifying budgetary issues. Ministers encourage such diversions as it spare them of doing real home work.
Let’s see volume number one of the budget documents. The fourth page of this 50-page document gives original and revised estimates of provincial revenue collection of the outgoing year and projections for the next fiscal year. It shows the budgetary projections of each of 11 provincial levies for the year 2002-03 and then revised estimated and budgetary projection for next fiscal year.
Tax on agricultural income has been a pressing issue in Sindh for last ten years. Whether there is plenty of rains and usual flow of water in canals or scarcity, big feudals never pay tax on their income. The Board of Revenue staff targets small peasants with no political clout to meet the tax target. This year the 2002-03 budget projected Rs700 million collection. Revised estimate showed an assumptive collection of Rs360 million and government has retained previous year’s target for 03-04.
Professional tax is expected to go up by almost 40 per cent next year to Rs300 million from revised estimate of Rs175 million. How would it go up. Has the government raised tax rates and included new segments of urban population in this net. There is no information available.
This budget depend a lot on the expectations. Financial engineering has enabled budget makers to show a revenue surplus of Rs1.36 billion. But they had to incorporate a huge development programme of Rs11 billion plus other components. From where would the money come? “We hope to get Rs6 billion from IDA and Rs5 billion from Islamabad to meet 15 per cent increase in salaries of the government employees,” answer the minister. Let’s hope so.
This is the first budget of the PML (Q) led coalition government in the province. But it is the first budget for which no consultation was made between coalition partners, opposition parties in the assembly and segments of population. This is a document made by the bureaucrats for the bureaucrats and is of the bureaucrats.
Sindh is again simmering with troubles. Insiders say that early this month the districts Nazims came down heavily in a meeting on the finance department. The lady accountant general was reported to be virtually in tears. “District nazims will take time to pick up skills for quick release of their allocated funds,” a senior officer said. He said that it always need special efforts to get consent of accountant general’s office and finance department for release of funds.
“Go to Accountant General office any of these days and see how the contractors deal with the officers,” an official said.