The Punjab government is all set to present a historic budget with a total outlay of about Rs 1,030 billion and full focus on the economic revival of the province.
The provincial budget will be presented in the Punjab Assembly on coming Friday.
According to sources the budget has been finalised with the main objective to revive economic activities in the province. To achieve this objective, much emphasis has been laid on energy generation projects in addition to the provision of ways and means to enhance productivity in the province.
The size of Annual Development Programme (ADP) is expected to be around Rs 330 billion. Through ADP the government plans to improve social sector indicators and productivity in areas of agriculture and industry. The schemes to generate employment opportunities and poverty alleviation would also be part of the budget.
It is learnt that the Punjab government has decided to levy 16 percent provincial sales tax on 12 different categories of services. They include car dealers, auto-parts dealers, workshops, medical labs, slimming centres, etc.
According to further details, Punjab would receive about Rs 820 billion from federal government as its share from the divisible pool. It will raise from its own resources about Rs 220 billion that also included various grants of Rs 20 billion.