PESHAWAR – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is all set to present a budget for financial year 2018-19 today with a total outlay of over Rs613 billion.
KP Finance Minister Taimoor Saleem Khan Jhagra is expected to table the budget in the provincial assembly at 3pm with 28 percent of the budget to be allocated for the development projects.
The incumbent government is going to present mid-year budget for eight months as the caretaker government has already approved a Rs198 billion administrative budget for the first four months of the fiscal year.
Shaukat Yousafzai, spokesperson for the provincial government, said that the budget will be over Rs613 billion of which Rs123 billion will be allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
Out of total development budget, 70% will be allocated for the old projects while 30% will be reserved for the new schemes, Yousafzai said, adding that long-delayed Bus Rapid Transit in Peshwar and Swat Expressway will be completed soon.
In what the spokesperson claimed a “balanced and tax-free” budget, he said that no extra burden will be put on the poor.
As the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has formed government in the centre, he said that the PTI-led provincial government is hopeful about getting funds from the federation.
Local media citing sources reported that the budget mentions receiving over Rs71 billion in the form of foreign aid which will be allocated for development schemes.
The budget also proposes over Rs29 billion for district governments and over Rs3 billion for clean water and sanitation.
In the budget, the government is expected to allocate over Rs9 billion for education, around Rs7 billion for health, and over Rs2 billion for forestry.
