For the fiscal year 2024, the Sindh government on Saturday proposed a deficit-budget outlay of Rs. 2,247.581 billion with a deficit of Rs. 37.795 billion.
Additionally, it raised pensions by 17.5 percent and public employee pay by 35 percent for classes 1 through 16 and 30 percent for grades 17 and up.
Murad Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh and minister of finance, proposed the provincial budget.
Without any disturbance in the chamber, he made his 12th budget address to the assembly.
Murad declared a minimum pay of Rs. 33,750 during the budget speech, a 35 percent increase over the previous minimum wage of Rs. 25,000.
An increase in provincial development spending from Rs. 406.322 billion to Rs. 700.103 billion has been projected for 2022–2023.
According to revised predictions for 2023–24, the province’s total receipts will be Rs 2,209.785 billion rather than Rs 1,738.784 billion.
In his speech, Murad Ali Shah claimed that Sindh has experienced remarkable development growth over the previous five years despite the COVID and floods, which added an additional burden of Rs. 100 billion.
According to him, Sindh saw disproportionate destruction in 2022 with 1,000 fatalities and 8,000 injuries, severely impacting homes, transportation, agriculture, irrigation, and communication infrastructure. Sindh also bore the brunt of the nation’s burden for both COVID and floods.
“More than 4.4 million acres of agricultural land were destroyed and irrigation and flood protection systems were damaged. However, the Sindh government’s aggressive response to the natural calamity reduced the impact of the destruction.”
He expressed regret that Sindh’s residents must deal with the consequences of the nation’s highest inflation rate of almost 40% and an insignificant growth rate of only 2% expected for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as increases in fuel and energy prices of up to 50%.
Revised Budget Estimates
As opposed to the budget estimates of Rs. 1.713 trillion for the fiscal year 2022–23, revised estimates for provincial expenditures have been proposed to be Rs. 1.765 trillion for the year 2022–23. Current revenue, capital, and development costs are all included.
For the fiscal year 2022–2023, revised estimates for federal transfers have been proposed at Rs. 1.080 trillion as opposed to budget estimates of Rs. 1.055 trillion, and revised estimates for provincial revenues have been proposed at Rs. 358.290 billion as opposed to the budgeted amount of Rs. 374.5 billion for the current fiscal year.
A 31 percent increase over budget predictions of Rs. 1.713 trillion for the current year 2022–23, the provincial budget outlay for 2023–24 is Rs. 2.247 trillion.
Current revenue expenditure (CRE) budget projections for FY2023–24 have been set at Rs. 1.411 trillion, which is 17.65 percent more than projections of Rs. 1.199 trillion for the fiscal year 2022–23.
The projected budget for current capital expenditures is Rs. 136.256 billion, which represents a 150 percent increase over the budget forecasts of Rs. 54.481 billion for the fiscal year 2022–2023.
According to Murad Ali Shah, this significant increase may be related to an excessive amount of interest being paid back as a result of a rise in the currency exchange rate from PKR 186 to PKR 300 per USD, which increased the expenditure disproportionally.
Compared to the budget estimates for this year, which are Rs. 459.657 billion, provincial development expenditures for the years 2023–24 are estimated to cost Rs. 700.103 billion. Included in this is the Rs. 30 billion set out for district ADP.
For the fiscal year 2023–2024, the chief minister stated that the budget projections for federal transfers have been set at Rs. 1.353 trillion, including Rs. 1.255 trillion for components of the divisible pool and Rs. 64.424 billion for components of straight payments.
According to the estimations, the budget estimates for the current fiscal year 2022–2023 of Rs. 1.055 trillion have increased by 27%.
For the fiscal year 2023–2024, CM Murad Ali Shah announced they recommended budget projections of Rs. 469.9 billion for income tax. The Sindh Sales Tax on services collection goal for 2024 has been set at Rs. 235.0 billion, up from Rs. 180.0 billion for the year 2022–2023.
Similarly, the target revenue collection for levies under excise & taxes is Rs. 143.27 billion, while the target revenue collection for levies under the Board of Revenue is Rs. 55.218 billion.
For the upcoming fiscal year 2023–2024, budget estimates for non-tax revenue have been proposed at Rs. 32.0 billion. Grants related to Foreign Project Assistance, Federal PSDP, and budgetary support allocations are other significant elements of annual receipts.
To read our blog on “Pay out salaries before Eid-ul-Adha 2023, Sindh Govt. orders,” click here.
