Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presented a Rs. 2.2 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) in the Sindh Assembly on Saturday.
The budget with a deficit of Rs. 38 billion aims to promote entrepreneurship and provide tax relief to people as well as businesses while taxing the rich to generate more revenue.
“We have adopted a strategy of rationalizing various tax bases to protect underprivileged segments of society from unnecessary financial burden,” the chief minister said in his budget speech.
The budget outlay of provincial expenditures for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) is at Rs. 2.248 trillion, 31 percent higher than budget estimates of Rs. 1.714 trillion in the previous fiscal year (FY23). The receipts are estimated at Rs. 2.209 trillion, showing a deficit of Rs. 37.795 billion.
The development expenditure estimate for FY24 has been set at Rs. 700.103 billion, much higher than the development expenditure estimate of Rs. 459.657 in the previous fiscal year. The development expenditure also includes Rs. 30 billion for the district Annual Development Program (ADP).
Of the total development expenditure, the province will contribute Rs. 380.5 billion. The second biggest chunk of Rs. 266.7 billion will come from Foreign Project Assistance (FPA). The district development programme will contribute Rs. 30 billion while other federal grants will contribute Rs. 22.9 billion.
Finance ACT 2023 need to be attached with article