KP faces Rs362.5bn shortfall in federal receipts

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is facing a shortfall of Rs362.568 billion in federal receipts from the central government during the current financial years 2023-24.

The provincial government has shown an increase of Rs141 billion in federal receipts in the next fiscal year’s budget even before the federal budget. The federal government has released around Rs708.188 billion out of Rs1,070.751 billion during the last 10 months of the current fiscal. Net Hydro Profit arrears and other royalties of Rs1,510 billion are also pending.

In the approved budget for next year, the expected revenue from the federation has been shown to increase from Rs1,070 billion to Rs1,212 billion.

The data available with this scribe says that the federal government has to pay Rs764.610 billion share to the KP in federal tax assignment but the federation has paid only Rs594 billion in the last 10 months of the current fiscal. The Centre has to pay around Rs170 in the next two months. The target for the next financial year is Rs902 billion.

Similarly, the federal government was supposed to pay Rs91.873 billion to the KP government as a one percent share for the war against terrorism, but only Rs71.377 billion have been paid and Rs20.496 billion are pending. The provincial government has hoped to get Rs108 billion rupees from the federal government under this head in the next financial year.

The Center had to pay Rs90.645 billion to KP in windfall levy but has not paid a single penny till now. However, the provincial government has kept an amount of Rs46 billion for windfall in the approved budget.

In the current financial year, Rs35.784 billion were transferred out of Rs38.661 billion in straight transfers of oil and gas royalties. Around Rs2.878 billion are pending. In the next financial year, this amount has been increased to Rs42 billion.

The official data revealed that not a single penny has been released in net hydel profit (NHP) of Rs31.519 in the last 10 months. However, the government has kept an amount of Rs33 billion in the next year’s budget. Similarly, from the Rs53.442 billion arrears of NHP with the federal government only Rs7 billion have been released till date. However, the provincial government has shown Rs78 billion as arrears in the approved budget for the next financial year.

Adviser to the KP Chief Minister on Finance Muzammil Aslam told The News that the federal government is confused due to the pressure of the IMF and the federal budget would be presented late. He said that the provincial budget was presented after reviewing the country’s economy. The budget has been prepared to keep in mind the federal tax target of Rs11,100 billion, although the federal government wants to keep the tax revenue around Rs12,000 billion in the federal budget. Muzammil said that we have kept the provincial budget on realistic statistics.

“The federal government is ignoring the province in PSDP, which other provinces have also protested. The working paper was sent on Thursday night while other details of projects were handed over 15 minutes before the meeting,” he said.