The two southern provinces unveiled their budgets for 2012-13 by the traditional mode of presentation by their Finance Ministers, Murad Ali Shah of Sindh and Asim Kurd Gaillu of Balochistan. That these are the final budgets of before the next general election might well explain why they did not contain any fresh taxation measures. Indeed, Shah presented the only deficit budget in all the provinces, in the Rs 578 billion budget, with a record Rs 231 billion for development, and a deficit of Rs 7.16 billion  However, Gaillu balanced the Balochistan budget, which included a development component of Rs 35.8 billlion in a total outlay of Rs 179.93 billion. The Sindh budget contained an increase in development spending of almost 43 percent over that of the current year, a sure sign that the PPP and the MQM are worried about their strongholds. Both provinces also followed the federal example of giving their employees and pensioners a 20 percent increase.

One of the salient features of the Balochistan budget was its allocation of Rs 8.5 billion for investment in the Reko Diq project. However, even though the province had been subjected to an almost continuous bloodletting, apparently no provision was made in the budget to combat it. Mir Asim did mention the problem of disappearances, though he did so in needlessly triumphalist fashion, recounting the recovery of some missing persons. This was better than Mr Shah, who did not even mention the problems faced because of target killings in the provincial capital. That raises the suspicion that the provincial government has no solution, which is a dangerous situation to be in when about to face a general election. The only oblique reference came while saying that the increase in the current expenditure from that budget had, among other reasons, making up the needs of the Sindh Police because of Karachi’s law and order.
The budgets reflected the end of the series that had started 10 days before, with the presentation of the federal budget. Now the provinces have also presented their budgets. There was a heightened expectation because all the Finance Ministers faced the problem of having to face an election in the coming year, but it seems that there has been little or no fiscal space beyond opting for a pay and pension raise for government servants, and not subjecting the already harassed citizen to further taxation. The expectations of election-year budgets have not been realized.