F.P. Report
QUETTA: The Balochistan government on Tuesday unveiled its surplus, relief-oriented and pro-people budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26, with a total outlay of Rs 1028 billion with a surplus of Rs 42 billion.
Presenting the budget before the provincial assembly, Finance Minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani said the total volume of Rs 642 billion is allocated for non-development expenditures and proposed allocating Rs 249.5 billion for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for fiscal year 2025-26.
Shoaib Nosherwani said the total estimated expenditures for the next financial year 2025-26 is Rs 986 billion while the volume of current operating expenditure has been dropped from Rs 43 billion to Rs 33 billion. He said that the government has enhanced the provincial income and set a target to generate Rs 226 billion revenue in upcoming fiscal year.
He said a development grants of Rs 66.5 billion of Federal funded projects, and Rs 38 billion as Foreign Projects Assistance (FPA) has been estimated despite the provincial development programme in the financial year 2025-26. He said under the development budget, Rs 249.5 billion would be spent on about 3633 ongoing schemes and 2550 new development projects where Rs 18 billion had been earmarked for the installation of safe city projects in eight cities in the upcoming financial year 2025-26.
The finance minister said that the allocation of Rs 4.5 billion has been proposed in terms of capital expenditure for the purchase of necessary equipment and machinery which is Rs 6 billion less than from previous year and allocated Rs 113 billion as grants for departments.
In his budget speech, Minister Shoaib Nosherwani stated that the provincial government had successfully spent the entire development budget for the current fiscal year. He said education, health, climate change, law and order were among the priorities of the provincial government.
The minister also announced the creation of 4188 contract-base and 1958 regular jobs for the fiscal year 2025-26 to provide employment to the youth of the province. To improve the economic condition of the employees, the finance minister said that the government has increased 10 percent of the salaries of employees from grade 1 to 22.
Meanwhile, the provincial government announced a 7 percent increase in pensions for retired employees. The minister emphasized that the budget was developed after thorough consultation with all political parties and is focused on public welfare, development priorities, and financial sustainability.
Shoaib Nosherwani said that the budget is based on the province’s actual needs, economic capacity, and ground realities, aiming to ensure balanced development across both urban and rural areas. The development budget of Rs 55.19 billion allocated for the Communication and Works Department which is increased of 19 percent from the current year for the construction of roads and upgradation of existing infrastructure.
The government has allocated Rs. 42.78 billion development budget for irrigation sector to boost agriculture and manage water resources, major investments are being made in dams, canals, and water storage systems. Nosherwani said that Rs. 24.84 billion allocated for development of education sector- secondary and higher education, to upgrade educational infrastructure, hire teachers, and introduce modern facilities.
