For the fiscal year 2024–2025, the Punjab government has set aside Rs. 842 billion for the Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), with the social sector, infrastructure development, production, services, special initiatives, and other sectors receiving the majority of this funding.
The Punjab budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2024–25 was presented by Punjab Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman during the Punjab Assembly meeting held here on Thursday.
The following is the MTDF breakdown for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2024, per the budget document:
A total of Rs. 280.65 billion would be allocated to the social sector, comprising of the following: Rs. 42.5 billion for school education; Rs. 17 billion for higher education; Rs. 2 billion for special education; Rs. 4 billion for literacy and non-formal education; Rs. 7.6 billion for sports and youth affairs; Rs. 86 billion for specialised healthcare and medical education; Rs. 42.6 billion for primary and secondary healthcare; Rs. 3.8 billion for population welfare; Rs. 1.4 billion for women development; and Rs. 61.750 billion for local government & community development.
A total of Rs. 246.8 billion has been set aside for infrastructure development, of which Rs. 143 billion will go to the roads sector, Rs. 25.800 billion to irrigation, Rs. 7.5 billion to the energy sector, and Rs. 30 billion to public buildings.
Similarly, a total of Rs. 107.850 billion will be given to the production sector. Rs. 64.6 billion will go to agriculture under the production sectors; Rs. 4 billion to forestry; Rs. 6.4 billion to wildlife; Rs. 5.3 billion to fisheries; Rs. 400 million to food; Rs. 9 billion to livestock and dairy development; Rs. 10.7 billion to industries, commerce, and investment sector; Rs. 950 million to mines and minerals; and Rs. 6.5 billion to tourism.
According to the budget paper, a total of Rs. 41 billion will be spent on the services sector. This includes Rs. 1.4 billion for Emergency Service (Rescue-1122), Rs. 18.5 billion for Transportation, Rs. 400 million for Labour & HR Department, and Rs. 20.7 billion for Governance & Information Technology.
During the FY 2024–2025, a sizeable grant of Rs. 101.5 billion has been set aside for Special Programs/Initiatives.
The Punjab govt has recommended raising the minimum wage in the province from Rs. 32,000 to Rs. 37,000 per month, and it has announced increases in pensions for employees in the province of 20 to 25 percent.
The official budget document states that provincial employees in grades 17 through 22 would receive a pay raise of 20%, while government employees in grades 1 through 16 will receive a salary increase of 25%.
In addition to proposing interest-free loans, the Punjab government unveiled the historic and groundbreaking “Kisan Dost Package,” allocating a substantial sum of Rs 64.60 billion for the fiscal year 2024–25.
The announcement of the Rs 75 billion Punjab Kisan Card scheme
has been announced and 500,000 farmers
will be given interest free loans.
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