LAHORE: The caretaker government of Punjab on Monday approved a tax-free budget of Rs 1719.3 billion for the four months of July-October for the financial year 2023-24.
Salary of government employees was increased by 30%, pension by 5% and pension of retirees above 80 years by 20%.
The watchdog has earmarked Rs 721.9 billion for current expenditure, Rs 325 billion for development expenditure, Rs 395.2 billion for the food account (disbursement of loans for purchase of wheat) and Rs 277.2 billion for investment.
The provincial government is expecting receipts of Rs 1,514.4 billion in the first four months from various sources including federal disbursement pool and provincial revenue collections.
The government had set a revenue target of Rs 579 billion for the fiscal year 2023-24, of which Rs 393 billion was expected from provincial revenue collections and Rs 186 billion from non-tax revenue. The government has allocated 116 billion rupees for the payment of pension.
Addressing a press conference, Punjab Caretaker Information Minister Aamir Mir, Industries Minister SM Tanveer and Finance Secretary Mujahid Sherdal said that the Caretaker Setup approved four months of estimated expenditure under Article 146 of the Constitution.
Total expenditure for the four months was estimated at Rs 1,719.3 billion, of which Rs 881 billion will be collected from the federal disbursement pool and Rs 194 billion from provincial revenues.
Ministers claimed that the education and health budgets were increased by 31 percent, the salaries of civil servants were increased by 30 percent ad hoc. All provincial taxes on the IT industry were abolished and an endowment fund of Rs 1 billion was established for the journalist community. The ministers also announced an allocation of Rs 70 billion for social welfare and protection and Rs 120.4 billion for service delivery.
In the four-month budget, the government maintained a stamp duty rate of one per cent against the proposed three per cent. An investment of Rs 16.4 billion will be approved for the Punjab Thermal Power Company Limited in the next two months, while Rs 47.6 billion have been allocated for the development of the agricultural sector and Rs 10 billion for the IT sector.
The finance secretary said that blocks have been allocated in the budget to control inflation. Apart from this, the Punjab government also started the process of repaying the loans of 600 billion rupees taken from the banks for the purchase of wheat. The loan will be cleared in four months. He further said that the provincial exchequer is facing a burden of Rs 250 million per day on wheat business.
Explaining the increase of 5 percent in the pension of persons aged 60 to 80 years and 20 percent in the pension of retirees above 80 years of age, the Finance Secretary said that the salary of the first retired employees on the day of their retirement. was stopped. . After which the concerned departments used to take a period of one to two and a half years to prepare the pension documents. During this period they were getting salary and not pension. However, today the Punjab Finance Department has issued a notification with the approval of the Punjab Government, after which the retired employees will continue to get 65% salary till one year after retirement.
The finance secretary also explained that the expenses of the election are the responsibility of the federal government. The provincial government will provide funds for security expenses in general elections.
Furthermore, the caretaker government was formed by the Election Commission of Pakistan and the elections will be held when the commission announces the date. The caretaker government will continue to perform its duties till that date, the ministers added.
Earlier, Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi chaired the 17th meeting of the Cabinet at the Civil Secretariat on Monday and approved the four-month tax-free budget for the fiscal year 2023-24. The cabinet approved a 30 percent hike in the salaries of all Punjab government employees, which will be given as ad hoc relief. Additionally, retirees above the age of 80 will get a 20 percent increase in their pension.
The cabinet also pledged to complete 50 percent of the ongoing development projects during this period. Out of 4800 ongoing development schemes in Punjab, 2500 will be completed in the next four months.
16 billion was sanctioned for running a dormant power plant in Jhang’s Tarimum area, which had been dormant since 2017. It also included the establishment of an IT park in Lahore Knowledge Park and an endowment fund of Rs 1 billion for journalists. Is. It was approved in the meeting.
