PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government presented the tax-free budget for the next Fiscal Year 2021-22 with a historic outlay of Rs 1,118 at the Provincial Assembly in Peshawar on Friday.
Presenting the KPK Budget 2021-22, the Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that Rs 919 billion have been allocated for the settled districts while Rs 199 billion for the newly merged districts of the province.
The finance minister said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province will receive Rs 475.6 billion from the federal taxes and Rs 57.2 billion from the federal divisible pool for the war on terror.
Taimur Jhagra said that Rs 371 billion have been allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) which is a record.
Budget 2021-22
Rs.1,118 billion total budget outlay, with a record Development budget of Rs. 371 billion; 10.4% higher than last year.
Rs.142Bn for Health, Rs. 206Bn for Education, Rs. 45.5Bn for LG and 21Bn for Sports & Tourism.#ResurgentPakhtunkhwa
— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) June 18, 2021
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government announced 10 percent adhoc relief allowance in the salaries of provincial government employees and 10 percent increase in pension in the new fiscal year budget.
The provincial finance minister also announced an increase of 20 percent functional or sectoral allowance for the employees up to grade-19 who are not receiving any special allowances besides a 7 percent increase in the house rent allowance for employees’ not availing government residence.
The minister said that over Rs 142 billion have been earmarked for the promotion of health facilities in the province besides the establishment of four big hospitals at a cost of Rs 40 billion under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that a medical insurance plan has also been introduced in the new budget for provincial government employees.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance minister said that a total of Rs 206 billion have been allocated for the Elementary and Secondary Education department and Rs 27 billion for the Higher Education Department.
Winding up the speech, the minister said that despite the financial crisis and prevalence of the global pandemic of COVID-19, the provincial government has presented a public-friendly tax-free budget.
The finance minister also presented a supplementary budget for the Financial Year 2020-21 amounting to Rs 78.84 billion.
Earlier the Provincial Cabinet in its meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan approved the budget for the next Fiscal Year 2021-22.
