A new squabble but a smart KP budget

The new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget for the next financial year seems to be a smartly crafted document that commits to producing a significant surplus of Rs100 billion while proposing a slew of populist and expansionary measures in line with the ruling PTI’s election manifesto. The estimate of the budgeted provincial receipts of Rs1.75 trillion appears a bit on the ‘higher side’ as some of the revenues, like the sum of nearly Rs158bn booked on account of net hydel profits and windfall levy on oil and federal funds for the merged districts of ex-Fata may not materialise — fully or partially — forcing the authorities to drastically adjust expenditure, particularly the record planned development outlay of Rs416.3bn. The development budget constitutes a little over a quarter of the total expenditure of Rs1.65tr booked for the next fiscal year. Any shortfall in its income would also affect KP’s ability to produce a surplus at the end of the year.