The Balochistan government on Wednesday presented its Rs 419.92 billion budget with a Rs 41.71 billion deficit.
The session was delayed for over two hours as opposition members protested over not receiving copies of the provincial budget document on time. MPAs belonging to the BNP-M, JUI-F, and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) staged a protest.
Opposition Leader in the Balochistan Assembly Advocate Malik Sikandar complained there was “no sign of progress in the province”, while former chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani described the budget to reporters outside the assembly as an “anti-masses budget”. BNP-M lawmaker Sanaullah Baloch expressed concern that the “rulers have failed to address key concerns of the masses in the budget”. The provincial government proposed increasing expenditure in multiple social sectors, including education (10 percent increase), health (26 percent increase), social protection (468 percent increase), and law and order (11.7 percent increase).
Highlights of the budget note that investments will be increased by 55 percent from Rs 10 billion to Rs 15.5 billion in the coming fiscal. Additionally, reform initiatives are underway for tax policy, debt management, risk assessment and investment management.
The health budget will also be decentralised from a provincial level to rural health centers, the document said, adding that the budget will also allocate funds for the establishment of universities and campuses for the first time.
