KP govt presents Rs 344b tax-free budget

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Minister Sirajul Haq on Monday presented a tax-free budget with an outlay of Rs 344 billion for the upcoming fiscal year 2013-2014.
Although no tax has been levied in the budget, the provincial government has proposed one percent tax on Afghan Transit Trade. The provincial government is going to establish the KP Revenue Authority to improve its receipts. A major chunk of the current revenue receipts in the KP budget for the financial year of 2013-2014 depends on receipts from the federal government.
Presenting budget proposals in the provincial assembly, Haq said total outlay was 13.5 percent more than budgetary allocations for the outgoing financial year. The finance minister said there was a deficit of Rs 41 billion during the financial year of 2012-2013. Current revenue expenditures for fiscal year 2012-13 were estimated at Rs 303 billion but registered figures show Rs 261 billion only. However, more than a four billion rupees decline was registered in current revenue expenditures for 2012-13, he said.
He further said a major portion of current expenditure would be consumed on social sectors which included Rs 22.807 billion allocated for health and Rs 66.608 billion for education. He said an amount of Rs 23.781 billion would be spent on the police force, Rs 3.122 billion on irrigation, Rs 1.972 billion on technical education, Rs 2.913 billion on agriculture, Rs 1.275 billion on environment and Rs 4.93 billion on communication and works.
Giving details of current revenue receipts for the coming financial year, Haq said an amount of Rs 198.269 billion would be received from the federal divisible pool which, according to him, was 8 percent more than budgetary estimates for 2012-13.
He said the KP government would receive an amount of Rs 23.823 billion from the federal government as compensation for terrorism affected public and private infrastructure in the ongoing war on terror. The federal government and all four federating units through National Finance Commission (NFC) agreed on payment of the said amount to KP in 2011-12, he added.
Haq further said the province would receive an amount of Rs 27.495 billion as royalty on oil and gas, which according to him was 24 percent more than that of the outgoing financial year. The province would receive an amount of Rs 6 billion from General Sales Tax (GST) and an amount of Rs 8.559 billion from its own receipts during the financial year 2013-14, he said.
Amidst desk thumbing by MPs from both treasury and opposition benches, the provincial finance minister said KP would receive an amount of 2.361 billion from its own established power houses. It would be the first ever income from the recently constructed power houses, he added.
KP is engaged in construction of over 12 power houses and electricity generation dams, which might be completed in a couple of years. With completion of these power houses, the provincial government would be capable of combating the issue of energy crises, he stated.
Haq said in 2013-14, the province would receive Rs 6 billion as hydel net profit and Rs 25 billion as arrears from the federal government. He said the provincial government expected Rs 35 billion from foreign projects assistance whereas an amount of Rs 723.5 million is expected from miscellaneous sectors. He further said the Rs 35 billion projected from foreign receipts included Rs 30.695 billion as grants and only Rs 4.304 billion was in loans on easy terms.
Describing the current financial expenditures estimated for 2013-14, Haq said it included Rs 211 billion as current revenue expenditure, which he said was 10 percent more than the outgoing year.
Like the recent past, a huge amount of resources is being spent on unproductive sectors. The finance minister in his budget speech said Rs 24 billion would be spent on pensions of retired government employees, Rs 2.5 billion for subsidy on wheat procurement and Rs 11.169 billion will be paid as mark-up on loans.

RS 118B FOR ADP

According to Haq, an amount of Rs 118 billion was earmarked for Annual Development Programme (ADP), which included Rs 83 billion for Provincial Development Programme, registering a 12 percent increase compared to budgetary estimates for the outgoing financial year. He said the amount would be consumed on 983 projects, including 609 that are underway, and 374 new schemes.
The provincial finance minister also announced a number of welfare schemes and projects while presenting the budget. These schemes included work on welfare projects for blind and disabled people, schemes for welfare and development of women including provision of transportation facilities to teachers, establishment of Women Welfare Complex, handicrafts centers, and training centers for teachers of special children schools among others. He said the present government was determined to improve conditions of rehabilitation centers for beggars, Darul Kafala and drug addicts. In this respect an amount of Rs 492.8 million was allocated for execution of 31 projects. The provincial government will execute six projects for mother-child care with an estimated cost of Rs 224.8 million. Haq said an endowment fund of Rs 50 million would be established for the welfare of heirs of journalists who became victims of terrorism.

Unique Points

-Computerisation of land records
-Police reforms against ‘Thana culture’
-Public can lodge FIR on telephone or the internet without going to the police station
-Development of 11,000 villages
-Construction of 10 small hydro power projects
-Mobile courts announced for the entire province
-Over 57 sports, culture and tourism projects to be initiated
-Special package for Kalash valley’s minority community
-Environment protection projects worth Rs 1.27 billion
-Over 157 projects for road infrastructure development
-Mass Transit System for Peshawar being planned
-Subsidy of about Rs 2 billion reserved on wheat
-Minimum pension up to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3,000
-Clean water projects to be completed
-Peshawar to be made ‘City of Flowers’
-Green Peshawar Project announced to overhaul the city
-Traffic projects to be completed within the fiscal year
-Peshawar Uplift Project announced worth Rs 4 billion
-Welfare projects for specials persons, educational institutes, beggars, women and kids

Other vital measures

-Security monitoring system comprising up to 500 monitors
-Free medical treatment to 800 cancer and 26,000 TB patients
– Interest-free loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to 200,000
-Position holding students to get scholarships
-Rs 500 million allocated for Cancer patients
-Rs 100 million set aside for Hepatitis patients
-Rs 3 billion reserved for Education Emergency and Improvement Program
-Minimum wage to be Rs 10,000