ISLAMABAD: The Budget Priorities Committee of Pakistan’s caretaker government has started deliberations on how best to allocate proposed Rs744bn to various government agencies for current and development spending next fiscal year amid increasing pressure from ministries to get a maximum share in the limited pie.
The first meeting of the Priorities Committee held this week marked the formal beginning of the budget-making process for 2013-14 that will culminate with the approval of fiscal policy framework by the next parliament in June this year.
The amount does not include the Rs627bn defence budget, though officials of the Ministry of Finance say this part of the budget will also come up for discussion on April 16.
The committee, comprising federal secretaries of finance, planning and economic affairs, will finalise budget proposals for both current and development spending by various government agencies, except the defence budget.
It will examine and try to strike a balance between the ambitions of 68 government departments and agencies and the available envelope of Rs744bn, according to officials of the finance ministry.
The proposed amount is 20 percent higher than this year’s current and development budget of Rs621bn. It is also higher than the projected inflation rate of 9 percent for the next year.
A major increase is on account of development spending that is likely to be increased by 25 percent while current spending is expected to go up by 12 percent. Usually, slight changes are made in the proposed and final allocations for the departments and ministries.
For the current fiscal year 2012-13, the previous National Assembly had approved a budget of Rs621bn - Rs261bn for current expenditure and Rs350bn for development spending. Parliament also approved the Rs350bn development budget.
However, the finance ministry gave Rs10bn in additional grant to facilitate former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in his spending spree in his constituency NA-51 that eventually became a reason for rejection of his nomination papers for May 11 elections.
Apart from Rs744bn in current and development spending, roughly a trillion rupees will go to the defence budget (which is more than the allocated amount) and another Rs1.1trn will be earmarked for interest payments. The Rs744bn amount is probably the only chunk of the proposed budget of Rs3.5trn for 2013-14 that will be discussed threadbare before its presentation at the highest levels.
“The Priorities Committee is the only forum where current, development and foreign loan components of the budget are discussed in an effort to make best use of limited resources,” says Assad Amin, spokesman for the finance ministry.
The committee will propose current budgets out of Rs294bn, which is Rs33bn or 12.6 percent higher than the outgoing year’s current budget, according to the finance ministry’s documents. For development spending, the proposed ceiling is Rs450bn, higher by 25 percent or Rs90bn over this year’s budget.
Internews
