Punjab unveils Rs2026bn budget amid opposition protest

Dunya News

Opposition members protested the arrest of Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif.

LAHORE (Dunya News) – The Punjab government on Tuesday unveiled its 2026.51 billion rupees budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 amid ruckus in the provincial assembly by oppositon members on the arrest of Shehbaz Sharif.

Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Bakht while presenting the budget criticised the previous government over what he said was flawed planning which resulted in huge loss to the provincial exchequer.

He said the PML-N left nothing but the option of taking loans for the incumbent government as the loans have become a necessity in order to run the affairs of the province and the country at large.

Referring to the 100 Days Agenda as public friendly, Bakht said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will lay foundation of a progressive and prosper Punjab.

He said that an estimated 1,652 billion rupees have been allocated for general revenue receipts. He said that Punjab is expecting an income worth 1,276 billion rupees from the federal divisible pool.

“There is an estimate of 376 billion rupees in provincial revenue. The current expenditure estimate for the ongoing fiscal year is worth 1,264 billion rupees.

“A huge amount of 238 billion rupees has been proposed for the annual development expenditures,” he added.