PESHAWAR:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance Taimur Salim Jhagra Wednesday said the provincial government witnessed significant increase in revenue during the last two years and will present a record budget this year.
Addressing a press conference after releasing the “Revenue and Expenditure Report for the Financial Year 2019-2020”, he said that KP was the first province to disclose the details of its income and expenditure. “The people have the right to know about how and where the funds allocated by the provincial government in the budget have been used. The publication of these statistics will also help in improving the performance of the departments”, he told.
The provincial minister said the budget estimate for the last financial year 2019-20 was Rs 900 billion while the revenue was Rs 615.4 billion which was 68 percent of the budget estimate adding that similarly, expenditure in the last financial year stood at 635.2 percent which constitutes 71 percent of the budget. He said preparations for the fiscal budget 2021-22 are underway for the budget which could be around Rs 1,000 billion.
Jhagra said that the monthly wage has been increased in the budget and to be enforced strictly. Besides merger of ad-hoc relief, the monthly salaries of government employees will be increased by 25 percent in the upcoming budget, he added.
He vowed that despite the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in June 2020, the government had achieved financial targets and would now achieve significant targets in this budget as well. The provincial government has achieved record provincial revenue after 3 years and this year too there is a strong possibility of collecting more than Rs 52 billion in revenue under a better strategy, he added.
He said that all development aspects would be taken into consideration in the budget for the next financial year and added, the development, operational and salary budgets will be increased.
As per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, the province has crossed an important milestone by raising the minimum wage to Rs 21,000 as 92 per cent of daily wage workers work in private sector, the minister told.
Responding to a question, he said that government employees were getting three different house allowances while the government was formulating a strategy for equal house rent for employees working in one district.
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Information and Higher education Kamran Khan Bangash who was also present on the occasion, said that the government would present pro-poor budget this year.
Meanwhile, ANP leader Sardar Hussain Babak said that the budget document should not be kept secret during preparation rather, the inputs of the concerned standing committee should be taken in all sectors. He said the KP government should demand its share from the Federal government so that more could be spent on public welfare projects.
Babak said that measures should be taken to control price hikes in the country and keep the taxation as low for the common man as possible. He further said that subsidies should be given to industries for revival of the industrial sector and economic growth in the province.