Karachi : The Sindh Government presented on Monday a tax-free Rs 577.98 billion budget for the fiscal year 2012-13 with receipts of the province estimated at Rs 570.81billion and federal receipts projected at Rs381.9billion.
Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, presenting the fifth budget of the PPP-led government, said the government faced multitude of challenges with many of them passed down from previous regimes; however under the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari the government overcame such challenges with unflinching democratic will.
He said an unprecedented development outlay of Rs 231.17billion in the upcoming fiscal year was a 63.8 percent increase over budget estimates of Rs 141 billion during the outgoing fiscal year. Current revenue expenditure is projected at Rs 315.30 billion which is marginally higher than Rs 309.45 billion of the previous fiscal.
Minister said province s own receipts were estimated at Rs 96.63 billion for 2012-13 which are 21% more as compared to figures of the year 2011-12. Sindh Revenue Board is expected to achieve its target if Rs 25billion in the current fiscal year while for the year 2012-13, SRB is estimated to collect Rs 32 billion an increase of 28% over current year estimates.
In the current fiscal year, Sindh Bank wills payout its maiden dividend of Rs 1 billion to the Sindh Government. The estimated provincial development expenditure of Rs 231 billion includes Rs 181 billion from provincial own resources, Rs 35 billion through Annual Development Program (ADP) assisted Flood Emergency Reconstruction Projects and Rs 14.51 billion through Federal Grants.
Recounting government efforts in initiating various development schemes in the province, Shah said along with earmarking Rs 231 billion for the year 2012-13, Rs 644 billion had been allocated for development during last five years by the PPP-led government. While the cumulative development spending from the year 1947 to 2007 was Rs 310 billion, which is less than half of the amount allocated in five-years of the incumbent government, he said.
Sindh Government is also planning to set up 100 Mega Watts power plant under PPP mode at Nooriabad. At present 26 projects of wind energy with installed capacity of 1800 MWs are in progress, said the Finance Minister.
For boosting the agriculture productivity, he said, the government will provide subsidy on 15,000 tractors compared to 6000 tractors in the current fiscal year.
The quota of women for recruitment in government jobs has been enhanced to 25% from the existing 5%. A sum of Rs 1.015 billion has been earmarked for Village Electrification Programme in Sindh.
Earlier, Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza, who was presiding over the session, said the PPP-led democratically elected government had now presented its fifth budget along with continuation of reconciliation policy.
