After remaining unable to develop consensus on the upcoming Budget 2018-19, both Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and Finance Ministry left it for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to take final decision in this regard, it is learnt.
According to the sources, Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and Finance Ministry would give a briefing to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Budget 2018-19 on April 20 at the Planning Commission before presenting it in National Economic Council (NEC) meeting. They said that the Prime Minister would take decision to finalize the budget 2018-19 after detailed briefing and the views of the both ministries. After it, the Budget 2018-19 would be presented in the NEC for approval.
The sources said that the meeting of Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) held in Planning Commission could not finalize next year's economic plan and development budget for submission to the NEC for approval. Various ministries showed concerns over the allocation of development budget and said that they could not launch new projects if the Finance Ministry does not increase their budgets.
The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms has proposed Rs1.3 trillion development budget for the year 2018-19 under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) but Finance Ministry gave sealing of Rs750 billion, which is 25 percent less than portfolio of Rs1,001 billion PSDP of current fiscal year-2017-18 that is ending on June 30.
Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan has already announced that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will not present the budget for financial year 2018-19. The sources said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Minister Muzaffar Saeed did not attend the APCC meeting. However, high officials of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the APCC meeting.
They said that the officials told the meeting that they would not present budget and only authorized budget for four months to the caretaker setup. This correspondent tried many times to contact KP Finance Minister Muzaffar Saeed for his version; however, his cell phone was continuously busy.
Sindh Planning and Development Minister Saeed Ghani, who attended the APCC meeting, while talking to Business Recorder said that the province has proposed Rs54 billion development budget so for the fiscal year 2018-19. However, he said that he asked the Finance Ministry to increase amount for water projects particularly for Karachi but it did not agree to it so far. He said some water projects were launched with 50 percent amount to be paid by the province and the federal governments each, but now their cost has escalated. But the federal government did not agree to give its share of the increased cost. However, he said that Sindh government will discuss the issue again in coming days.
He said that the budget 2018-19 was not finalized in the APCC meeting. However, he said that further discussion on development budget would be held in next few days.