PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's caretaker government on Tuesday unveiled its budget worth Rs462.16 billion for four months (July–October 2023) as the incumbent federal government may be disbanded after the four months.
Himayatullah Khan, the KP chief minister’s advisor on finance, said that the provincial government has budgeted Rs112 billion for the development sector and over Rs350 billion for expenditures for the next four months.
In KP, the minimum wage will rise from Rs26,000 to Rs32,000, according to Himayatullah, while pensions will increase by 17.5 per cent. Despite difficult circumstances, he continued, the caretaker leadership has not taken any new loans.
The advisor added that government departments’ employees from grades 1 to 16 will have a salary raise of 35 percent, while those in grades-17 through 22 will see a 30 percent increase. The province would spend Rs84.5 billion on provincial salaries and Rs77.8 billion on district salaries, according to the budget paper. Pension costs will total Rs42 billion, while capital expenses would cost Rs8.4 billion.
The government has budgeted Rs20.7 billion for the Department of Communication and Works and Rs11.6 billion for the agricultural, livestock, and fisheries sectors. Additionally, Rs614 billion will be spent on the excise and taxes department, and Rs6.9 billion have been set aside for energy requirements. Himayatullah said that the caretaker government would also continue paying subsidies on the projects of the previous government such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Health Card scheme. He said a Rs3 billion sum had been paid as subsidy to the BRT last year and that same amount would be paid this year to keep the project functional. He added that the initiative of health card would also continue. However, the affluent people, who afford payment would voluntarily pay their instalments for the health insurance schemes on their own. He said the provincial cabinet members had decided to start paying for the health card. It merits mention here that the caretaker administration took control of the province in January 2023.
