Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Saturday said next fiscal year budget for the province had been made amid a difficult period and promised to extend full assistance to the federal government to achieve the 3.6 per cent growth rate.

As Sindh opted for a 30pc wage hike for the lower ranking government employees, the chief minister said he wasn’t satisfied with minimum wage of 37,000 – an obvious reference to the record high and persistent inflation that has shrunk the purchasing power of ordinary people at an alarming rate.

Addressing a post-budget press conference in Karachi, Murad said the total budget size of Rs3,056 billion was 34pc more than the previous one, thus continuing with the tradition of increasing the amount each year. “We will go towards further growth in the next year,” he added.

The chief minister told reporters that the Sindh government was expecting an inflow of Rs1,900bn from the Centre – an amount calculated according to the province’s share under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

About the future development strategy, Murad said they would focus on completing the ongoing schemes, as his cabinet had already decided not to launch new ones.