LAHORE , June 19, 2023: The caretaker government in Punjab on Monday approved the budget for the first four months [July-October] of next fiscal year 2023-24 and decided to pay back the Rs600bn loan immediately.
Addressing a press conference to share salient feature of the budget, Punjab Information Minister explained the reasoning, saying the amount would have touched Rs1,100 if the decision wasn’t taken.
Earlier, the provincial cabinet approved a 30 per cent raise in the salaries of government employees with 20 per cent increase in the pensions of those who older than 80 years.
This conditional hike in pensions means that those falling in the age bracket 60 to 80 will get a 5pc raise only – a move that is completely opposite to the across-the-board increase for the pensioners by the federal and Sindh governments.
Mir said the total layout of the budget was Rs1.719 trillion out of which the amount allocated for development projects is Rs325 billion followed by education Rs195bn, health Rs183bn and social protection Rs70bn.
He also noted that Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) got Rs10bn with Rs8.8bn reserved for climate change. The development budget for agriculture, irrigation and information technology was Rs47bn, Rs18bn and Rs5.3bn respectively, Mir added.
Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Industries Minister SM Tanveer said no new tax had been imposed in the budget which was people-friendly.
He especially mentioned 31pc increase in the health and education sectors as well as establishment of IT and Technology Park, reducing stamp duty to 1pc and exempting IT sector from sales tax.