Peshawar - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance Taimur Jhagra on Saturday claimed that PTI led provincial government presented a relief-oriented and pro-poor budget for financial year 2021-22, which was widely welcomed by the people.
Addressing post-budget press conference, Taimur Jhagra said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget was a balanced and growth-oriented as no new tax was being imposed, so it was a totally relief budget.
Regarding payment of amounts and arrears on head of Net Hydel Profit (NHP), Jhagra said the provincial government had already assured to release Rs36 billion as soon as possible. He said that NHP payment was regularly paid out by the federal government during the last eight months.
The KP Finance Minister, terming the budget figures as factual and based on fact, said that a record increase was made in the TMAs budget from Rs9 billion to Rs15 billion aimed at delivering services to people at their doorsteps.
Talking about the taxation measures, Jhagra said the ratio of the number of provincial taxes had been reduced, which was encouraging to bring new taxpayers in the tax-net. He said that a record allocation had also been made for the aforestation ‘Billion Tree Tsunami’ project.
Similarly, he mentioned that a huge development funds were allocated for the uplift of merged tribal districts in the next fiscal budget, besides a hefty amount had also been set aside to provide interest-free loans to the people in the province.
Flanked by Additional Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shahab Ali Shah and other officials, Jhagra said the government had increased salaries and allowances by 37 percent of the government employees. He said a record Rs10 billion subsidy was allocated for food security in the province.
Regarding debt burden on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Jhagra said the government had taken two types of short-term and long-term loans. Interest rates on short-term loans were very low for which there was a transparent process of re-payment, while long-term loans with a term of 30 to 40 years were very easy and regular, he added.
The minister said that PTI government in KP was not facing any difficulty due to re-payment of loans which was two per cent of the total budget. He said Rs100 billion had been allocated for integrated districts and would be spent on them while not a single penny would be wasted.
Jhagra said the provincial government was trying to vaccinate about 7 to 9 million people by September this year and that was why vaccination of 18-29 years old people had also been started.