ISLAMABAD:- The former provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa led by Pakistan Tehrik Insaf have spend maximum budget during the first half of the current fiscal year and pushed in great difficulties for the Premier Shehbaz Sharif led government in ongoing talks with the international Monetary Fund (IMF) by not providing the agreed surplus budget.
The Finance Ministry issued Fiscal Operation Report of the first half of the current fiscal year on Wednesday. According to the report the provinces has given only Rs.101 billion surplus budget to mitigate the budget deficit of the first half of the current fiscal year.
During the budget preparations, the Federal Govt had estimated that the provincials governments will give surplus Rs750 billion to narrow down the budget deficit to Rs-3.797 trillion (4.7 percent of GDP) under the IMF agreement on 2019 for the current fiscal year.
The Fiscal Operation report shows that than Punjab and Khyberpakhtunkhwa governments led by PTI has not only failed to give agreed surplus budget to Federal government but they used maximum resources before come out from Power.
The PTI had resolved provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP last month to pressurize the Federal Government to announce to hold General Election in the country as soon as possible.
The report shows that the provincial governments have spent Rs.454.436 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year,
The Punjab Government led by former CM Pervaiz Elahi spent Rs.263 billion for development projects including Rs.72 billion in first quarter and Rs.192 billion in second quarter of the current fiscal year. It has spent Rs.1063 billion for current expenditures including Rs390 billion in first quarter and Rs670 billion in second quarter of the current fiscal year. The province has given only Rs38 billion surplus budget to the federal Government which is being governed by political opponent parties.
The provincial government has calculated Rs.59 billion as Statistical Discrepancy during the first half of the current fiscal year. The meaning of the Statistical Discrepancy is that the government has no record that where it has spent the money and the amount can not consider in budget deficit.
The data shows that the Punjab Government was awarded Rs936 billion from Federal Government under NFC Award during the period. It has earned Rs141 billion through provincial taxes and Rs34 billion through provincial non-tax revenue during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The PK provincial government led by former CM Mehmood Khan has not only did not give surplus budget to the Federal Government but it has given Rs5.4 billion deficit during the first half of the current fiscal year. The former provincial government of the KP has spent total Rs378 billion including Rs149 billion in first quarter and Rs228 billion in second quarter of the current fiscal year.
The PTI led provincial government has used RsRs324 billion for current expenditure and Rs73 billion for development schemes mainly due to minus Rs.20 billion on account of Statistical Discrepancy. The provincial government has earned Rs20.54 billion through provincial taxes and Rs.20.70 billion through non-tax revenue which is Rs5.2 billion lower from the same period of the last fiscal year. The Federal Government has transferred Rs314 billion through NFC and Rs17 billion through federal loan and grants during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The Sindh Government led by Pakistan Peoples Party has not also honor the IMF agreement due to considerations of election year.
The Sindh government has spent Rs80 billion for development schemes and Rs531 billion for current expenditures during the current fiscal year. the government had spend Rs63 billion for development schemes and Rs419 billion for current expenditures during the same period of the last fiscal year. The province has given surplus budget worth Rs.57 billion which is the highest number from any province despite it is very low from agreed amount.
The Baluchistan Government is portraying almost same picture on surplus budget during the first half of the current fiscal year. The province government has only given surplus budget worth Rs10.7 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year against Rs29 billion in first quarter of the current fiscal year. The province has spent Rs38 billion for development activities and Rs141 billion for current expenditure for the period.