Punjab Budget: Flush with cash, short on viable plans

Punjab’s budget for the next fiscal year represents an old chapter from the playbook of the PML-N, which routinely prioritises the image-building of the top party leadership over meaningful governance for the optimal social impact of the province’s annual development spending plan. Indeed, though the second budget of the Maryam Nawaz government dots every ‘i’ and crosses every ‘t’, the document is devoid of an effective strategy to achieve impact outcomes commensurate with the large development stimulus it has proposed for the province. The Rs53.3 trillion spending plan, including a development programme of Rs1.24tr, is a familiar combination of flashy infrastructure projects, politically convenient handouts and promises of public service delivery improvements.