KARACHI – Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah presented the budget for the next fiscal year 2021-22 in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.
As PPP-led government presents the budget, opposition parties can be seen creating ruckus in the assembly.
— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) June 15, 2021
The outlay of the deficit budget for the southeast province is estimated at Rs1.477 trillion, witnessing a surge of around 19.1 percent from last year.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah while announcing the budget said that the development outlay for the budget is estimated at Rs329 billion. The PPP leader mentioned a 41.3 increase in the development budget from the previous year.
He also announced a 25 percent increase in salaries of the government employees besides increasing the minimum wage from Rs 17,000 to Rs25,000.
#Sindh Cabinet has approved an increase of 20% in the salary of Govt employees & also set the minimum wage at 25,000 in the province. No new tax is being introduced by #SindhGovt #SindhBudget
— Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui (@murtazawahab1) June 15, 2021
Shah said that the Sindh government imposed no new tax in the budget, while Rs105 billion has been proposed for law and order, Rs172 billion for health, Rs215 billion for school education and Rs25 billion for college education.
He said that the Sindh government allocated Rs24.72 billion to counter the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic. He said that Rs18.32b have been recommended to buy medicines throughout the year, adding that the provincial government also agreed to create 964 new posts for the health sector. He said that the Sindh government allocated Rs2b to procure PPE and PCR testing kits.
Murad said the $400mn had been estimated as the total cost of Sindh Human Capital Projects, which he said is a comprehensive package by the World Bank in collaboration with the Sindh government.
Shah announced earmarking an amount of Rs3 billion for industrial development through small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Rs3.20 billion for education, Rs2 billion for low-cost housing units, Rs1.70 billion for IT sector, and Rs 16 billion for social welfare projects for the citizens.
The government also proposed Rs14 billion for transport, Rs75 billion for local bodies and Rs53 billion for the irrigation department.
Earlier in the day, the Sindh cabinet on Tuesday approved the provincial budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 with an overall outlay of Rs1.47 trillion.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a special meeting of the provincial cabinet to discuss and approve the budget 2021-22, which he unveiled in the Sindh Assembly session later today.
