PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Department organised a pre-budget consultation session, which was attended by secretaries of concerned departments and representatives of civil society.
KP Minister for Finance Muzzafar Said advocate was the chief guest, while Finance Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta and others high officials addressed the session. Finance Secretary Ali Raza Bhutta while speaking on the occasion said that development budget would not be reduced and there are chances that 80 to 85 percent of the budget would be utilized.
Muzaffar revealed the budget would prioritize the energy, health and education sectors. He hoped the federal government would release the first tranche of Rs25 billion under net hydel profit over the coming week. The amount was fixed at Rs70 billion through a memorandum of understanding between the federal and provincial governments.
“We hope that the federal government, keeping in view the sensitive situation of the province, will release Rs25 billion in the coming week,” he mentioned. About the coming budget, the minister claimed to generate 25,000 jobs across the province. Secretary for Finance Ali Raza shared details of development funds’ utilisation and amounts received from the federal government.
He said authorities utilised Rs 70 billion of development funds which amounted to 50 percent of the total Annual Development Programme for 2015-16. To a question about the ongoing budget shortfall due to KP government’s failure to generate its expected revenue of Rs31 billion from the provincial non-tax receipts, Rs 51.8 from the arrears of the net hydel profit (NHP) from the federal government and Rs 18 billion of the NHP for the year after uncapping and the shortfall implications on the developmental budget, Bhutta said, “The government will make adjustments in the current budget and take austerity measures to overcome the shortfall.”
He further said the provincial government received Rs 190 billion out of Rs 250 billion for federal tax assignment from the centre, Rs 22 billion out of Rs 30 billion for the war on terror and Rs 16 billion out of Rs 19 billion in straight transfers. In the session, it was briefed that in the upcoming fiscal budget, 39 percent would be allocated for incomes, 24 percent for development and 30 percent would be placed for non-development projects; while the remaining 30 percent would be spent through local government.
