In accordance with its authority granted by Article 126 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which states that the caretaker government may be authorized expenditures for a period not exceeding four months, the Punjab Caretaker government on Monday presented an Rs1719.3 billion budget for the first four months of the Financial Year 2023–24.
Amir Mir, the interim province minister of information, and SM Tanveer, the interim provincial minister of industries and commerce, presented the highlights of the four-month provincial budget to the media today at the Civil Secretariat.
According to Article 126 of the Constitution, the caretaker cabinet of Punjab has today authorized the government’s spending and earnings for the next four months, according to Amir Mir. According to him, the budget’s overall outlay for the four months from July to October 2023 will be Rs. 1719.3 billion. According to him, Punjab would provide Rs. 194 billion to the federal government in taxes, which will total Rs. 881 billion. No more taxes will be levied throughout the aforementioned time period of the upcoming fiscal year.
According to him, 325 billion rupees have been set up for development expenditures, and 2500 of the 4800 projects currently underway in the province are expected to be finished within the next four months.
According to Amir Mir, the budget for the health and education sectors has increased by 31% and will receive a total of Rs 195.1 billion and Rs 183.7 billion, respectively. He mentioned that a $1 billion Journalist Endowment Fund, which was established for the first time in Punjab’s history, would unquestionably secure the well-being of the province’s journalist community.
According to the caretaker information minister, 721 billion rupees will be spent on salaries and pensions. He said, “Government employees will receive a 30 percent ad hoc relief allowance on their base pay, a 5 percent pension rise, and a 20 percent increase in pension for retirees over the age of 80.
According to him, the Punjab government owes various banks Rs 600 billion for the purchase of wheat, and daily markup payments of Rs 250 million are made in this regard. The caretaker chief minister began the process of paying off the debt of Rs 600 billion with the agreement of the cabinet, and it would be paid in the next four months. This debt might go up to Rs 1100 billion by the end of 2023 and Rs 2000 billion by the end of 2025.
The interim provincial industries minister, SM Tanveer, claimed that no new taxes had been added and that the budget was favourable to the general public.