Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister, presented in the provincial assembly on Friday a ‘balanced’ budget for the next financial year with a total outlay of Rs. 3,056 trillion, marking a 36 percent increase over revised budget estimates of Rs2.252 trillion in the current year 2023-24. The development expenditure has been hiked significantly as it stands at Rs. 959.064 billion as against the revised estimates of the current year i.e. Rs. 529.603 billion. Enhanced allocations for agriculture, education and health sectors reflect commitment of the provincial government to lay sound foundations for socio-economic uplift of the people.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its leadership always demonstrated their resolve to promote the welfare of the downtrodden and weaker segments of the society and the new budget is surely in line with this commitment as a number of laudable initiatives have been launched to provide relief to low income groups, Haaris and laborers. The PPP is identified for its pro-employees posture and it once again upheld this reputation by increasing salaries of the provincial employees over and above the rates announced by the federal government for its employees.
As against the flat rate of 25% increase for 1-16 grade employees announced by the federal government, the Sindh Chief Minister won hearts of the low-paid employees by raising salaries of 1-6 grade employees by 30%, 25% for employees in grade-7 to 16 and 22% for grade 17 and above (as against 20% proposed by the federal government). Pensions have been increased by 15% and the minimum wage raised to Rs. 37,000.
The chief minister introduced Benazir Haari Card under which Rs8 billion would be distributed among 1.2 million peasants. The registration of 788,000 peasants having 12.5 acres of land or less would start soon. This, together with 62% increase in agri allocations, would surely help improve things in the agriculture sector. Similarly, an amount of Rs5 billion has been earmarked for Benazir Mazdoor Card, which is in addition to the workers’ welfare fund.
This fund would be provided to labourers registered with the labour department. Sindh was the most affected province during the unprecedented rainfall in July and August 2022, with 70 percent of the land submerged and over 12.4 million people affected. As 2.1 million houses were damaged, the Sindh Government is, understandably, prioritizing rehabilitation of the affected people. It has already spent Rs. 25 billion on construction of one-room climate resilient homes and an equal amount has also been allocated for the next financial year for the purpose.
A total of 125,000 houses have been constructed while 7,700 houses were financed by the private sector. The government would construct 0.8 million houses for women. It was in this backdrop that the CM described it as the biggest housing scheme in the world, which was initiated with the support of international financial institutions. It is also appreciable that allocations for the education sector have been enhanced by 36% over the outgoing year’s budget while health services would get Rs. 300 billion against the allocation of Rs. 227.8 billion in the outgoing year. A 29% increase in the budget for security and policing is also understandable in view of growing street crimes and activities of dacoits in the kutcha areas.
The budget also envisages measures towards fulfillment of the oft-repeated pledge of the party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari regarding free provision of electricity to the poor. Sindh’s 2.6 million families were not connected with the national grid in the province, who would be provided with solar rooftops in the next five years. In the first phase in next FY, solar home systems will be provided to 500,000 households.
The budget, however, envisages some measures that would fuel inflation and aggravate sufferings of the common man. The two percent increase in provincial sales tax on services would put an additional budget of Rs. 120 billion on people. Similarly, substantial increase in the rate of professional tax on personal income, CNG stations, petrol pumps and air tickets besides an increase on transfer of property would also compound inflationary pressure and need to be reviewed sympathetically
