Punjab, Sindh budgets for FY 2019-20 to be presented today
LAHORE/KARACHI (92 News) – The budgets for the next financial year (FY) 2019-20 of Punjab and Sindh will be presented on Friday (today).
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led Punjab government will announce its budget for the financial year 2019-20 in the provincial assembly in Lahore.
Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht will present the budget in while Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah who also holds the portfolio of the finance minister will present the budget in provincial assembly in Karachi.
According to a spokesperson for the Punjab government, Shahbaz Gill, the provincial government has prepared its budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said the provincial authorities will not follow the pattern of the former rulers who only showed off in their moves while making budget’s announcement. He slammed the past governments for investing public funds only on the projects for getting commissions and projection.
Meanwhile, the PPP-led Sindh government will also be presenting its budget for the financial year 2019-20 in the Sindh Assembly session today.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister, will present the budget.
The pre-budget meeting of Sindh for next financial year will also be held on the same day at 11am at new Sindh Secretariat building in Karachi.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 will be announced on Tuesday. According to an official notification, Provincial Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra will present the budget in the Provincial Assembly.
Hammad Azhar presents Federal Budget 2019-2020
Earlier, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar presented the Federal Budget 2019-20 in the National Assembly.
In his budget speech, he started off by shedding light on the gloomy economic situation of the country before the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s regime. He mentioned that Pakistan’s total debt had reached Rs31 trillion owing to high-interest loans taken by the previous government.
Moreover, he mentioned that the foreign exchange reserves had dropped below $10 billion, current account deficit (CAD) had reached $20 billion, whereas the trade deficit had reached $32 billion.
“Pakistan received a bailout package from International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with financial assistance worth $6 billion from Saudi Arabia in the form of deferred oil payments to alleviate the burden on foreign exchange reserves,” he maintained.
“There has been no increase in exports in the past five years,” he said. “Due to financial mismanagement, the deficit reached Rs2260bn. Circular debt in the energy sector reached Rs1200bn.”
The minister said measures taken by the PTI-led government have resulted in remittances rising by $2bn, and Rs12bn decrease per month in circular debt in the energy sector.
Azhar added that the 11 per cent tax to GDP ratio currently, was the lowest in the region. There were only 50 per cent of SECP registered companies paying tax. “We will have to change this culture.”
Hammad Azhar has delineated the key points for Budget 2020, saying the government’s key priorities were public welfare and well being and reducing the external deficit.
