After the Federal Budget 2023-2024’s being presented on Friday, the provinces have started presenting theirs. The Sindh Budget was presented on Saturday, while the Balochistan CM has announced that the Budget will be presented on June 16. No more than ever before has it become clear that the constitutional arrangements were made to ensure that there was no deviation from the constitutional scheme. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab can only present budgets for four months, that is up to October 31. That means that elections to those assemblies not only have to take place but the Assemblies will have to pass budgets for the rest of the year before that date. After that, there will no longer be any payments made, whether to contractors or to employees. Those who draw pensions from those two provincial governments should not celebrate the increase of 17 percent given by the federal government, because if there is no assembly in place by then, the enhanced pension will not be payable.
However, the provinces, whether like Balochistan and Sindh, pass budgets for the whole year, or whether, like Punjab and KP, pass a budget for four months only, will be focused on the coming elections. This is because the provincial governments deal with the nitty-gritty of development, and have the most contact with the citizenry. They are exclusively responsible for policing, health and education. This means that they must shoulder the burden of development spending on such vote-getting projects as hospitals, dispensaries and schools or colleges. The Balochistan and Sindh governments are in a better position, as they will be trying to rectify the neglect or mistakes of the last five years with this budget. It is a safe guess that the funds released in the pre-election period will occur much more easily than in the past, when funds are only released by the provincial government towards the end of the financial year.
One of the under-emphasized aspects of the provincial budgets is how they will bear the brunt of replacing infrastructure which has been destroyed by the floods this year. All provinces were badly affected by the floods, with roads, bridges and buildings washed away and needing replacement. This need was specifically mentioned by Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah in his budget speech. The unfortunate part is that so far none of the provinces, or the federal government, has taken any measure in its budget directed to the climate change that is creating these requirements.
