QUETTA, June 26: Balochistan’s Finance Minister, Jalil Dotani, will present the provincial budget for the financial year 2002-03 on Thursday.

The Balochistan government is expected to follow the pattern of Sindh and the NWFP by unveiling a surplus budget, though this province is in the grip of severe drought for the past six years. The government had already declared 22 districts “calamity-affected areas” because of the drought. That is why, the federal government made a substantial allocation of Rs6 billion for providing relief to the drought-stricken.

Balochistan is expected to get a substantial amount of drought fund. However, the government has been severely criticized by the independent economists for failing to use the already allocated funds for the purpose.

According to the figures available, the government spent less than Rs one billion in the drought-affected region while the President of Pakistan had pledged Rs two billion.

Overall, the provincial budget will depict the level of funding to Balochistan from federal sources. The government will be retaining the subvention of around Rs5 billion for the next fiscal year to combat backwardness. It may be Rs400 million to Rs500 million less this year, informed sources told this correspondent.

With the conversion of foreign credits into soft loan by some friendly governments, Balochistan is expected to get more funds for the development of social sectors as required under the same agreements with individual countries. Thus, the social sector will get a big boost.