LAHORE: Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakhat on Monday presented the Punjab budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 with an outlay of Rs 2240.7 billion in the provincial assembly.

He claimed that a pro-business and progressive budget has been announced in these difficult times.

Hashim said the government is implementing the policy of decreasing the current expenditure by adopting austerity measures. The government has rejected the supplementary grants of Rs 61 billion. It has saved Rs 1.5 billion by reducing the demands of different departments under the supervision of austerity committee. Following in the footsteps of the federation, the Punjab government has also not announced any increase in the salaries of government employees.

Hashim said the government of Punjab under the leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar is announcing a Rs 56 billion tax relief package which is the biggest in the history of Punjab. The government has announced relief package on GST on services in the upcoming budget which includes the proposal of reducing the rate of tax on health insurance from 16 % to zero percent and reducing the rate of tax on consultancy fees of doctors and hospitals from five percent to zero percent.

The government has proposed to reduce the incidence of tax from 16 percent to five percent on more than 20 service providers which include hotels, guest houses, marriage halls, lawns, caterers, IT services, tour operators, gems, property dealers, rent a car service, cable TV operators, treatment of textile and leather services, commission agents related to commodities, auditing, accounting and tax consultancy services, photographers and parking services.

The government has proposed to collect tax from property builders and developers at the rate of Rs 50 and Rs 100 per square feet. It is also proposed that customers who paid their bills through cash to beauty parlours and restaurants will pay 16 percent tax while those who pay through credit cards and debit cards will have to pay 5 percent tax.

The government will give a 20 percent rebate instead of 10 percent on the full payment of registration and token tax of cars while 5 percent special discount will be given if the payment will be made through Punjab e-pay. The minister said due to COVID 19 providing health facilities to the people of Punjab is the priority of the government. It has allocated 284.2 billion for the health sector out of which Rs 250.7 billion was allocated for the current expenditure while 33 billion has been allocated for the development budget.

The government has allocated Rs 13 billion for controlling COVID-19 while it has increased the budget from Rs 23 billion to Rs 26 billion.

The government has allocated Rs 391 billion for the education sector out of which Rs 357 billion was allocated for current expenditure while Rs 34.5 billion for its development sector. The government has allocated more than Rs 350 billion for schools education department out of which 27.6 billion is part of the development budget. The government will provide free books and provision of stipends to 500,000 children of the province. The government has allocated Rs 13.5 billion for school councils, Rs 3 billion for Daanish Schools and Rs 22 billion for the Punjab Education Foundation and the Punjab Education Initiative Management Authority.

The government has allocated Rs 37.56 billion for higher education department out of which Rs 3.9 billion is allocated for the development sector. The government has allocated Rs 3 billion for literacy and non-formal basic education while the government has allocated Rs 800 million especial education.

Hashim said the government is facing the biggest threat of locust attack on crops. The government of Punjab is taking important steps along with the federal government to cope with the challenge. The government has allocated Rs 31.73 billion for the agriculture sector while the government has allocated Rs 4 billion to save the crops from the locust attack out of which Rs 1 billion will be given to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

The government has allocated Rs 37.4 billion for the irrigation sector, Rs 13.3 for livestock and dairy development and Rs 4 billion for the Punjab Social Protection Authority.

The government of Punjab has allocated Rs 8 billion for the development of big cities under Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program. Under these programs, funds will be allocated to Sahiwal and Sialkot. In the same way, the government has allocated Rs 32 billion for the development of 16 cities under Punjab Cities Program which is going on with the support of the World Bank.