Sindh Budget: Govt allocates Rs329 billion for development expenditures

KARACHI: The Sindh government has allocated development expenditures of Rs329.03 billion in the Sindh budget for the fiscal year 2021/22.

The amount includes Rs222.5 billion for the Annual Development Plan (ADP) and Rs30 billion for the districts ADP, foreign project assistance of Rs71.16 billion, and Rs5.4 billion from the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) grant for schemes being executed by the Sindh government.

Syed Murad Ali Shah, while presenting the provincial budget 2021/22, said under the development expenditures, the total current expenditure for the health sector has been estimated at Rs172 billion during 2021/22 as against an allocation of Rs132.88 billion in 2020/21.

During the next financial year, the ADP of health is pitched at Rs18.5 billion. The next financial year will witness an increase of 30 percent in the total allocation for the health sector, including medical education.

Moreover, Rs7.6 billion with an overall increase of 10 percent has been allocated for nine vertical programs to combat/control polio, TB, AIDS, Lady Health Workers program, Hepatitis control, and expanded program for immunization and others.

The chief minister said health remains a priority sector. After the advent of Covid-19, the provincial government reprioritized its allocation and earmarked maximum resources in 2020/21 for prevention, isolation, and treatment of Covid-19; besides, significant resources were also spent for containing and mitigating the economic damage due to job losses and business closures.

The provincial government had allocated the highest percentage of resources towards education in 2021/22. It will see an increase of 13.5 percent over the allocation of the current financial year. For the next financial year, Shah proposed to enhance the education budget to Rs277.5 billion from Rs244.5 billion.

During the outgoing financial year, the ADP allocation for the education sector was Rs21.1 billion. It comprised school education, college education, universities, empowerment of persons with disabilities, and skill development. In 2021/22, the government has earmarked Rs26 billion for the sector, he added.

A strategy to encourage community-driven economic activities, focusing on supporting home-based businesses, small and medium enterprises, social protection, and economic sustainability package of Rs30.90 billion is also proposed for the next financial year.

The chief minister said the government of Sindh has taken a number of steps towards the economic, social, political, and legal empowerment of women. For the next financial year, the allocation for Women Development Department has been increased from Rs348.581 million to Rs571.975 million, an increase of 64 percent, whereas Rs320 million have been earmarked under the provincial ADP 2021/22, of which Rs296 million are for the ongoing and Rs24 million are for the new schemes.

The provincial government is determined to improve the conditions in the agriculture sector. It contributes 15 percent to 17 percent of wheat, 33 percent to 45 percent of rice, and 25 percent of sugarcane to national production.

For the next financial year, it is proposed to increase the allocation for the agricultural sector from Rs14.8 billion to Rs15.26 billion. In ADP, Rs2.28 billion was allocated in the outgoing financial year, whereas in FY 2021/22, an amount of Rs5 billion is kept.

The chief minister said the provincial government’s commitment to establish and maintain law and order is also evident from the fact that the Home Department, including police, jails, Rangers and other security agencies is the third-largest department in terms of resource allocation with a share of 13 percent in the total current revenue expenditures.

The Home Department has been allocated Rs119.97 billion in the next FY 2021/22 as against the current financial year budget estimates of Rs113.87 billion; showing an increase of 5.4 percent.

For industrial and economic development, it is imperative that the country is able to meet its energy demands. The absence of an efficient energy supply will have disastrous consequences for any economy, agrarian, trade, and technological alike.

Budget estimates for the current revenue expenditures of the Energy Department are estimated at Rs23.26 billion, which includes Rs21 billion for clearance of outstanding liabilities of electricity dues of various government departments pertaining to distribution companies such as K-Electric, Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company, and Sukkur Electric Supply Company. The ADP for the Energy Department is pitched at Rs2.5 billion for the financial year 2021/22.

The provincial government allocated Rs82 billion for the local government/councils during the next financial year, compared with Rs78 billion during the outgoing financial year.