The provincial budgets have been in surplus by Rs 137bn during the period under review with Rs 85.35bn in the case of Punjab, Rs 44.841bn (Sindh), Rs 27.089bn (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Rs 34.484bn (Balochistan). The budget deficit of Rs 1238.041bn was financed through domestic resources to the tune of Rs 1017.870bn, and external resources amounting to Rs 220.171bn. A large portion of domestic financing ie Rs 694.672bn was made through borrowing from banks whereas the non-bank financing stood at Rs 323.198bn.
The total tax revenue stood at Rs 2,694.346bn with the federal tax collection of Rs 2,463.8bn and provincial tax collection of Rs 230.5bn. Of the total federal tax collection, Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) collection stood at Rs 2,260.474bn as against the annual target of Rs 3,621bn and collection under the head of other taxes remained at Rs 203bn. Total expenditure of the federal and provincial governments stood at Rs 4,383.563bn and the amount includes Rs 3605.121bn as current expenditures and Rs 746.646bn development spending - federal PSDP releases Rs 323.965bn and provincial Rs 422.681bn.
The current expenditure constitutes Rs 3,605.121bn with Rs 2439.349bn federal and Rs 1165.772bn provincial expenditures. General public service expenditures stood at Rs 1,694.817bn, servicing of domestic debt remained at Rs 1,009.864bn, servicing of foreign debt (Rs 84.599bn), defence expenses (Rs 535.662bn, pension (Rs 208.893bn), grants -other than provinces (Rs 214.910bn) and other general public service stood at Rs 176.551bn. The total revenue in terms of GDP stood at 9.4 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year against the total expenditures of 13.1pc. Tax revenue stood at 8pc of the GDP, while the non-tax revenue stood at 1.3pc, while the current expenditures stood at 10.8pc of the GDP during the period under review.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017