Over the past 11 months, Sindh has received only Rs492.135 billion on account of federal transfers, anticipating Rs117.527 billion of shortfall by the end of current financial year. Sindh government has offered to the federal government to collect sales tax on goods on its own behalf, he said.
"As we believe that once devolved the returns from sales tax on goods can be maximized as it has been done in case of sales tax on services," he said adding the federal government failed to develop a consensus on introducing the ninth NFC award, as delay in the announcement of the award hurts the financial interest of the provinces.
The provincial revenue targets have been revised from Rs243.082 billion to Rs240.746 billion. As a result, against an estimated budgetary amount of Rs1.123 trillion, the revised receipts for current financial year stand at Rs940.777 billion. The provincial revenue targets have been revised from Rs243.082 billion to Rs240.746 billion, he told.
"Due to poor receipts, we had to cut down our development expenditure which now stands at Rs 172.941 billion for current financial year. This proved to be a major impediment to achieving our goals. Many development schemes that could have been completed, have been delayed due to non-availability of funds. Similarly, on the current revenue side estimates have been revised from Rs773.237 billion to Rs751.752 billion. The reduction is primarily because of the severe austerity measures and strict financial discipline," CM told the house.
During the financial year 2018-19, the government had to cut on operating expenses. The repair and maintenance budget of departments has been substantially reduced from Rs30.8 billion to Rs26.8 billion. He said the fourth quarter of budget under operating expenses has been partially released.
"Despite all the financial hardships, we have tried to ensure that all health and educational facilities receive substantial budgetary allocations," he added. The Sindh government avoided to introduce major cuts in grants of social sector institutions, Shah said, adding that his government helped through initiatives different organisations like SIUT, Indus Hospital, HANDS, Aman Foundation and Sindh Education Foundation. "Due to our interventions, we were able to revise our expenditure estimates from Rs1.144 trillion to Rs956.779 billion. As a result, the budget deficit for the current financial year comes to be Rs16 billion against expected Rs20.457 billion," the CM said.