Bumps up govt employees’ salaries; No new taxes imposed
Observer Report
Karachi
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presented on Wednesday a Rs1.24 trillion provincial budget for the year 2020-21 with a deficit of Rs18.38 billion.
In his budget speech, Shah announced that the salaries of Grade 1-16 government employees would be increased 10%, while those of Grade 17-21 would receive a 5% raise. The upward revision, however, would not be applicable to provincial ministers and Sindh cabinet, he added.
Presenting the budget in the Sindh Assembly, the chief minister said that the non-development expenditure was estimated at Rs968.99 billion while the development expenditure was estimated at Rs232.94 billion and the capital expenditure was estimated at Rs39.19 billion. According to the CM, total receipts were estimated to be Rs1.22 trillion — federal receipts at Rs760.30 billion (65 percent), provincial receipts at Rs313.39 billion (26.8 percent), capital receipts at Rs25 billion (2.1 percent) and other receipts at (FPA & PSDP) Rs69.05 billion (5.9 percent).Murad Ali Shah told the House that that no new tax has been introduced in budget 2020-21 and the increase in non-development expenditure is restricted to only seven percent. Shah further explained that the increase in non-development expenditure was mainly due to provision of ‘Covid-related pro-poor’ Social Protection and Economic Sustainability package of Rs34.2 billion .
