KP govt unveils Rs462.42bn budget for four months

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker government on Tuesday unveiled the Rs462.426 billion budget for four months, from July 1 to October 31, 2023, which includes Rs350.041 billion for current expenditure and Rs112.385 billion for development funds.

Unveiling the expenditure statement in the presence of cabinet colleagues and administrative secretaries at a crowded press conference, Adviser to Chief Minister for Finance Himayatullah Khan said as per Article 126 of the Constitution, the caretaker government was authorised to give details of the expenses without making any changes to the revenue sources or levying any taxes.

Before the presser, the caretaker cabinet, with Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan in the chair, accorded approval to the budgetary statement.

The KP government announced a 35 percent raise as an ad hoc allowance in the salaries of government employees from BPS 1 to 16 and a 30 percent raise in the salaries of employees of BPS 17 and above in accordance with the federal government’s announcement on salary raises.

Similarly, a 17.5 percent increase in the pensions of all pensioners of the provincial government was announced.

The minimum wage of employees was raised to Rs32,000 per month from the previous Rs26,000.

According to the breakdown of the expenditure, an amount of Rs309.498 billion has been earmarked for the non-developmental increase of settled areas, while Rs40.543 billion has been set aside for the current expenditure of merged districts, with just Rs1 million for the temporarily displaced persons.

Moreover, out of the total Rs112.385 billion in development funds, Rs92.122 billion have been specified for the settled areas of the province and Rs20.263 billion for the merged districts.

The three-page expenditure statement, which was distributed among media persons, showed that a 50 percent increase would be made in the travel allowance of all the provincial government employees, and the conveyance allowance of disabled employees of the provincial government would be raised by 100 percent.

The orderly allowance of employees would be increased from Rs14,000 per month to Rs25,000.

The deputation allowance of the employees would be raised by 50 percent, and the secretariat performance allowance would be increased by 100 percent.

The expenditure statement made a special mention of the austerity measures adopted by the caretaker government.

A complete ban was imposed on new recruitment, including the hiring of contingent staff, until the arrival of elected government.

The creation of new posts, excluding completed development projects, has been banned as well.

The purchase of vehicles, except for ambulances, earth-moving machinery, fire trucks, tractors, trucks, buses, passenger vans, prisoners’ vans, motorcycles, recovery and rescue vehicles, and lifesaving boats, has been banned.

Participation in events abroad on provincial funds has been banned.

Holding events in five-star hotels and receiving treatment abroad with government funds have also been banned.

Himayatullah Khan said the acting government was not authorised to take any measures about revenue.