KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday presented Rs851.9 billion remaining budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-19 to be spent from October 1, 2018, till June 30, 2019.
In his budget speech, the chief minister reminded that during the announcement of budget 2018-19, they had requested the house to authorise expenditure for only three months from 1st July to 30th September 2018.
“Although constitutionally, we had the mandate to present the budget for the entire fiscal year, but in order to uphold Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) principles of fair play, we left it to the incoming government to set budget priorities for themselves, which is again in the government,” the CM said.
The chief minister said that the total budget outlay for the current financial year 2018-19 is Rs1144.5 billion. “The previous elected provincial government had authorised funds amounting to Rs292.6 billion for first quarter of FY 2018-19. The total current revenue expenditure is 773.3 billion out of which Rs193.3 billion stands authorised,” he said.
The chief minister said that as against a current capital expenditure of Rs27.3 billion, Rs6.9 billion had already been authorised. For the development side, Rs 63 billion had already been authorised.
He said that the total development budget outlay during 2018-19 is Rs343.911 billion, of which Rs252 billion was estimated for provincial Annual Development Plan (ADP) and Rs30 billion for district ADP schemes, Rs46.895 billion from Foreign Projects Assistance (FPA) and Rs15.017 billion by the federal government through PSDP schemes under execution of Sindh government.
“The provincial ADP 2018-19 includes Rs202 billion for 2226 ongoing schemes, and a block allocation of Rs50 billion was estimated for new schemes. “Our provincial development portfolio now faces an allocation cut of Rs24 billion. Now the size of provincial ADP for 2018-19 is Rs228 billion out of which Rs5 billion will be diverted to district ADP that will be enhanced from Rs30 billion to Rs35 billion while Rs21 billion will be authorized for new ADP schemes,” the chief minister said.
Shah said that the total budgetary allocation for the home department during FY 2018-19 is Rs 102.483 billion. He said: “During FY2018-19, the non-development budget of education has been increased from Rs 178.7 billion to Rs 211 billion, whereas on the development side, Rs 24.4 billion have been allocated in ADP 2018-19.”
The chief minister said that another high priority area of his government is the provision of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities to the people. We believe that it is a fundamental right of every citizen to get clean drinking water and improved sanitation system, said the chief minister.
He said, “We have allocated Rs250 million for completion of ongoing schemes which include the establishment of women complexes, training centres and clubs in various districts.”
The allocation for health sector during FY 2018-19 is Rs 102.224 billion on a non-development side and Rs 12.50 billion development side, Shah said.
The chief minister said that during the current financial year, the second phase of the People’s Poverty Reduction Programme had been included in ADP 2018-19 at an estimated cost of Rs4,000 million with allocation of Rs 1000 million to cover 288 UCs of six districts – Ghotki, Sukkur, Naushehro Feroze, Benazirabad, Karachi and Hyderabad.
General discussion on the budget statement for this remaining period will be held between September 24 and 28, 2018.
The discussion on the charged expenditure for one hour and the discussion and voting on demands for grants for the year 2018-19 will be held on Saturday, 29 September 2018.
