Staff Reporter
Peshawar
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department Thursday organized a virtual pre-budget consultation for the participation of the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and experts in the provincial budget making process by indicating their preferences and proposing focus areas for budget.
The event was supported by the DFID funded Sub-National Governance-II programme which aims to strengthen governance to help improve provision of basic services for the poorest and the most vulnerable, including women/girls and other marginalized groups.
This was the first time KP Finance Department held a pre-budget consultative session to interact and engage with the CSOs in the budget making process through a participatory approach. “The objectives of consultative sessions were to promote inclusion and transparency in government budget development processes, enable CSOs and experts to assess, analyze and review government proposals in the budget and to ensure effective participation of the citizens in the allocation of budgetary resources especially with reference to the most vulnerable and marginalized groups,” Mashhood Mirza, Advisor Inclusion and Accountability at the Sub-National Governance Programme remarked “Traditionally the budget making process has been neither open nor participatory” he added.
Mr. Waqas Paracha, Advisor Public Financial Management (PFM) gave a comprehensive presentation on the key feature of Budget Strategy Paper and the priorities of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the wake of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The forum was informed that KP Government intends to approve PKR 39 billion for COVID -19 for the next financial year including PKR 13 billion for cash transfers under Ehsaas programme as part of the Social Protection Plan. COVID-19 has resulted in massive shortfall in the government revenues and it is likely that the government will take austerity measures, including no allocation for training, entertainment expenditure, reducing allocations for non-essential services.
Representative from the Finance Department remarked that KP Government is committed to make specific budget allocations for vulnerable groups. KP government with the technical assistance from SNG II has drafted a Public Financial Management (PFM) Law which will make it obligatory for the provincial government to present government plan to protect the vulnerable.
