The deficit budget of Rs2.247tr proposed by the Sindh government.
Sindh’s budget
Sindh‘s deficit budget is Rs2.247tr.The government raises staff pay by 30–35% and pensions by 17.5%.On Saturday, the Sindh government proposed an FY2024 deficit-budget outlay of Rs2,247.581 billion with a deficit of Rs37.795 billion.It also raised pensions by 17.5% and public employee pay by 35% for grades 1-16 and 30% for grades 17 and up.Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, proposed the provincial budget. The legislature was silent throughout his 12th budget address.he raised the minimum wage by 35% to Rs33,750 in the budget address. Provincial development expenditure is planned at Rs700.103 billion against Rs406.322 billion revised projections for 2022-23.The province’s expected revenue is Rs2,209.785 billion, up from Rs1,738.784 billion in 2023-24.
Murad Ali Shah
In his speech, Murad Ali Shah said Sindh has remarkable development during the last five years despite Covid and floods, which cost Rs100 billion.He claimed Sindh bore the brunt of Covid and floods in 2022, with 1,000 deaths and 8,000 injuries, devastating housing, transport, agriculture, irrigation, and communication infrastructure.“Over 4.4 million acres of agricultural land and irrigation and flood protection systems were destroyed. However, Sindh’s proactive response to the natural disaster mitigated the destruction.”He said it was sad that Sindhians had to bear ever-higher inflation of about 40% with a low predicted growth rate of 2% for the upcoming financial year, while fuel and energy prices rose up to 50%.
provincial expenditure
The revised provincial expenditure estimates for 2022-23 are Rs1.765 trillion, up from the budget estimate of Rs1.713 trillion. It covers current revenue, capital, and development expenses. The revised estimates for federal transfers and provincial revenues for 2022-23 are Rs1.080 trillion and Rs358.290 billion, respectively.Provincial expenditures for 2023-24 are Rs2.247 trillion, up 31% from 2022-23’s Rs1.713 trillion.Current revenue expenditure (CRE) budget estimates for FY2023-24 are Rs1.411 trillion, up 17.65% from budget forecasts of Rs1.199 trillion for 2022-23. Current capital expenditure budget estimates are Rs136.256 billion, up 150 percent from Rs54.481 billion for 2022-23. Shah stated this significant increase may be attributable to excessive interest repayment due to a rise in the FX exchange rate from PKR186 to PKR300 per USD, which increased expenditure disproportionately.
chief minister
Provincial development expenditure for 2023-24 is Rs700.103 billion, up from Rs459.657 billion this year. District ADP gets Rs30 billion.The chief minister said the federal transfer budget for 2023-24 is Rs1.353 trillion, including Rs1.255 trillion for divisible pool components and Rs64.424 billion for straight transfer components. The estimates are 27% higher than budget forecasts of Rs1.055 trillion for 2022-23.Murad said their 2023-24 tax revenue budget was Rs469.9 billion. Sindh Sales Tax on services would earn Rs235.0 billion next year, up from Rs180.0 billion in 2022-23. The excise & taxes revenue objective is Rs143.27 billion, and the Board of Revenue aim is Rs55.218 billion.
non-tax revenue budget
The 2023-24 non-tax revenue budget is Rs32.0 billion. Annual receipts also include Foreign Project Assistance, Federal PSDP, and budgetary support funds.The chief minister added that Sindh was the most impacted province by the extraordinary rainfall in July and August 2022, with 70% of the land submerged and over 12.4 million people affected.The Federal Ministry of Planning and Development, provincial Planning and Development Department, and line departments coordinated to conduct the “Post-Disaster Needs Assessment” to quantify Sindh’s damage and losses, estimated at more than $20 billion, accounting for 70% of the country’s total.
Strategic Action Plan
The Sindh government’s “Strategic Action Plan” for flood response followed the national 4R (Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction) framework and estimated the province’s financial demand at US$11.6 billion.“Even though we reoriented about Rs87 billion of the provincial ADP towards flood rehabilitation, the substantial financial gap in meeting reconstruction needs remained,” he said.He noted that the Sindh government collaborated with development partners, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, to build nearly US$2 billion in flood recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction projects in record time.The 2023-24 development budget is Rs689.603 billion. It includes Rs380.5 billion for province ADP, Rs30.0 billion for district ADP, Rs266.691 billion for foreign project support, and Rs22.912 billion for Sindh government-executed federal PSDP initiatives.
development portfolio
The provincial development portfolio for 2023-24 includes 5,248 initiatives: 3,311 current schemes with Rs291.727 billion and 1,937 new schemes with Rs88.273 billion.Murad Ali Shah stated they have budgeted Rs312.245 billion for education in FY2023-24, up 7% from last year’s Rs292.47 billion.He noted that the Sindh Education Foundation budget has increased to Rs15.6 billion from Rs13.299 billion. Budget estimates for non-development activities in 2023-24 for health services are Rs214.547 billion, up from Rs196.454 billion in 2022-23.Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi, received Rs15.316 billion, up Rs5 billion from last year.
Institute of Medical Sciences
Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat, has Rs6 billion.In 2023-24, Indus Hospital Karachi would receive Rs4.0 billion instead of Rs2.5 billion. In the next fiscal year, Indus Hospital Karachi will receive Rs4.0 billion to expand.The 2023-24 transport and public transportation budget is Rs13.4 billion, up 92% from this year’s Rs6.9 billion.
