- Over Rs12bn deficit to be met with centre’s assistance
Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) government will present its budget for the fiscal year 2017-2018 on Thursday (today) in the Legislative Assembly with a development outlay of more than 22 billion, almost double compared to the current fiscal year.
The Legislative Assembly will meet here with Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir in the chair at a temporary hall in MLA Hostel as the assembly building is proposed to be reconstructed and an amount has been allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the coming budget.
Minister for Finance Dr Najeeb Naqi will present the budget for the fiscal year 2017-18 and review expenditures for the current fiscal year in the assembly at 10 am. The total volume of the budget is expected 94.14 billion rupees with more than 12 billion deficit which would be met with the assistance of federal government while current expenditures are expected more than Rs 71 billion.
In allocations for the development sector, priority has been given to construction and communication sector for which almost half of development budget amounting Rs 9.4 billion has been allocated. Total income of the government during the next fiscal year has been estimated as Rs 82 billion from which an amount of Rs 20.8 billion has been estimated for its own resources.
While taxes share from the Kashmir Council is expected Rs14.3 billion, an amount of Rs 1.3 billion has been estimated at the head of Mangla water use charges, while the share from the federal divisible pool has been estimated at Rs 26 billion.