PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will unveil over Rs920 billion budget for the next financial year today (Friday).

A notification posted on the website of the provincial assembly declared that the budget session would begin at 3pm.

Finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra will present the budget.Details available with Dawn show that the total outlay for the 2020-21 budget has been pitched at Rs923 billion, which is 2.4 per cent more than the Rs900 estimates for the current fiscal.

Breakdown of the revenue estimates shows that province is set to receive Rs477 billion from the federal divisible pool, while the net hydel profit proceeds total Rs58.2 billion, including over Rs36 billion arrears.

The province’s own tax and non-tax revenue has been pitched at Rs49 billion against the current fiscal’s Rs53 billion estimates.

Tax receipts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for 2020-21 have been pitched at Rs28.14 billion and non-tax revenue at Rs21 billion.

Documents show province to get Rs477bn from federal divisible pool, Rs58.2bn as hydel profit

In addition, the budget documents show that the government will obtain Rs44 billion domestic loans to fill the province’s bourgeoning fiscal deficit.

The federal government will also provide Rs73 billion non-development grants and Rs48 billion development grants for the merged tribal districts, which will get Rs15 billion non-development grants as well.The foreign project assistance will amount to Rs85 billion, including Rs12 billion for the merged districts.

On the expenditure side, Rs124 billion has been allocated for the provincial component of government employees’ salaries, while Rs150 billion will go to the district level salaries.

Pension liability is likely to cost the province a whopping Rs86 billion against the current year’s Rs74 billion revised estimate.

A total of Rs15 billion has been allocated for Covid-19 contingency, while Rs88 billion has been allocated for the tribal districts’ current expenditure, which also included Rs9 billion Covid-19 contingency funds for the region.

The province’s annual development programme has been pitched at Rs317.5 billion, which is slightly lower than the current fiscal’s Rs319 allocation.

The ADP’s provincial component has been pitched at Rs104 billion, which is around three per cent less than Rs108 billion funding for the current fiscal.

The district ADP has totalled Rs44 billion.

A total of Rs73 billion has been earmarked for 10 years development programme for the merged districts.

The merged districts will also receive Rs10 billion from the district ADP for the first time, which is from the provincial contribution for the development of merged districts.

The donor-funded component of the provincial ADP is likely to receive Rs73 billion, while the same portion for merged districts has been pitched at Rs12.6 billion.

The budget documents show that ADP for the current fiscal has come down from original Rs319 billion to Rs220 billion.

The ADP’s provincial component has been slashed from Rs108 billion to Rs95 billion, while its district component totals Rs4 billion due to the absence of the local government system.

The revised estimates also show that the province is likely to receive Rs379 billion from the federal government instead of initial projection of Rs533 billion.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2020