KARACHI: 

Budgets in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have historically been a litany of complaints against the federal government, followed by a recitation of numbers that, frequently, even the provincial finance ministers found tedious, boring and difficult to understand. Not this time: the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government delivered their first governing document and made sure to lay out their strategy for the development of the province and connect it to their spending decisions, as laid out in the numbers.

When the numbers were first revealed, it immediately became clear why the PTI was unwilling to share the education portfolio with its coalition partner, the Jamaat-e-Islami. Education has the lion’s share of the provincial budget, about 30% of total spending. The Rs102 billion that Peshawar will be spending on education is substantially higher than last year, though the increase appears especially exaggerated due to an accounting change brought about by the new administration. Salaries of public school teachers were previously counted as part of the “general public service” budget and have now been counted as part of the education budget.

Public safety gets the second-highest allocation, at nearly Rs38 billion, no surprise in a province that has faced the onslaught of a brutal militant insurgency. The third highest allocation went to healthcare, just over Rs29 billion.

The PTI-led administration’s budget is a sharp contrast to the money bills presented by their predecessors, the Awami National Party, which had a tendency to try to blame all the ills of the province on a lack of federal cooperation. The PTI’s budget, by contrast, appears to mostly ignore the aspects that the provincial government cannot control – militancy, the tribal areas, etc – and chooses to focus on service delivery in areas that are directly under its jurisdiction: education, health, infrastructure, etc.

So, for instance, the provincial government nearly doubled the budgeted amount for urban and regional infrastructure, including drinking water and sanitation infrastructure, to Rs26 billion. Much of this spending will be financed with the assistance of foreign donors, who have allocated a total of Rs35 billion for aid to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

On the revenue side, however, the provincial budget remains disappointing. There has been little increase in what Peshawar expects it can collect in revenues on its own. The province’s own revenue-generating activities (aside from hydroelectric power) account for just 4.4% of the total revenue available to the government. This, perhaps, should not come as a surprise, since tax policy was among the weakest segments in what was said to be an otherwise well-crafted manifesto.

The single biggest chunk comes in the form of various transfers from the federal government, which taken together account for about three-quarters of the budget. Profits from hydroelectric power generation, little of which is done by the provincial government itself, account for another 10%, with foreign aid accounting for the remainder of Peshawar’s financial resources.

Nonetheless, the 2014 budget document was also a major step forward in terms of transparency: the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government provided an unprecedented level of detail in its figures, breaking out, for instance, how much it spends on government salaries versus how much goes towards other portions of its expenditure. It provided an exceedingly useful record of historical data, and it provided all of the numbers in an easy-to-use, and even easier-to-analyse Microsoft Excel files.

Whether all of these measures will translate into improved lives for the citizens of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is an open question, but the effort appears to be significantly above what the province has lived with so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

PESHAWAR: 

Announced by Finance Minister Sirajul Haq in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday, the total budget is about 17.3% larger than the outgoing fiscal year’s budget, with a development budget of about Rs118 billion, nearly 40% larger than fiscal 2013. The single largest chunk of the development budget will be allocated towards education, followed by infrastructure development, including drinking water and sanitation infrastructure.

Education has the largest total share of the provincial budget, with nearly 30% being spent on education, a  substantial increase over last year. However, it was quickly learnt that the percentage increase being cited by many television channels on Monday afternoon was largely the result of an account change: the salaries of public school teachers, the single biggest expense on education, was previously being categorised as “general public expenditure” and was re-categorised under the education budget by the PTI-led government, rendering a comparison of this year’s budget with last year’s budget difficult.

The provincial government appears to also have announced an austerity drive, which relies on trying to cut non-salary expenses at the governor’s house and the chief minister’s house, as well as other high-end provincial government properties, by about 50%. It remains unclear, however, how much money this would actually save the government. The PTI-led government also sought to address the extreme reliance of the province on revenue transfers from the federal government. Sirajul Haq announced the creation of the Khyber-Pakthunkhwa Revenue Authority, which would have the responsibility to collect all provincial taxes and levies. It is not immediately clear if this authority would be an independent entity or whether it would amount to simply a renaming of the current provincial revenue department.

Among the revenues that the provincial government is targeting is a general sales tax on the province’s tourism industry. The provincial government has now begun an advertising campaign to lure back tourists and earn more revenues, touting the safety of Swat after the military campaign to rid the region of militants.

Following the lead of the federal government, the K-P government will also be giving its employees a raise, though the 15% raise in the province is higher than the 10% raise announced by Islamabad.

Among the biggest innovations of the PTI-led government was a far higher degree of transparency about the way the province conducts its accounting.

There were, however, some strange blind spots in the budget. In a province wracked by an extremely violent insurgency, the law enforcement budget was increased only by 11.3%, not far above the current year’s inflation number of 8%.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government made history on Monday by allocating Rs102.5 billion for the education sector in the budget for fiscal year 2013-2014. 

This is the highest amount ever allocated to education development in the province in any budget. For the current fiscal year, approximately Rs881 million more has been allocated for primary and secondary education. However, the numbers alone may be misleading; for the heads under which the money has been distributed have been changed this time around.

An estimated Rs60.5 billion has been allocated for government primary schools, administration, regional institutes for teachers’ education, secondary education and administration, higher education along with secretary elementary and education department of K-P. Out of this figure, a massive Rs56.44 billion has been allocated for the salaries of employees while only Rs4.41 billion is allotted for non-salary expenditure.

Rs372 million has already been released in the form of grants to nine autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions for the current fiscal year, including Sangota Public School Swat, Cadet College Kohat, Cadet College Swat, Fazle Haq College Mardan, Bacha Khan Model School Jandool Dir, Karnal Sher Khan Cadet College Swabi, Centennial Model School Batkheila, Sabawoon School Rangmala Malakand and for the purchase of land for Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, DI Khan.

For fiscal year 2012-2013, the total budget estimate for higher education was Rs5.39 billion which was raised in the revised budget to Rs5.44 billion. The budget allocated for fiscal year 2013-2014 is estimated to be Rs6.05 billion for general colleges, archives and libraries. Out of the total amount, Rs5.4 billion has been allocated for salaries and Rs630 million for non-salary expenditure.

Rs600 million has been allocated for the establishment of a comprehensive monitoring system, while Rs20 million is allocated for the creation of K-P Education Commission and Joint Education Advisory Commission.

The amount for student scholarships under the ‘Stori da Pakhtunkhwa’ initiative has been increased to Rs360 million. In addition, Rs100 million has been allocated for scholarships of Rs200 per month per girl in select districts to boost the enrollment rate of girls in schools.

Other features of the budget include the allocation of:

•   Rs500 million for ‘Chief Minister’s Endowment Fund’ to sponsor higher education for deserving students

•   Rs800 million for the expansion of ‘Rokhana Pakhtunkhwa Programme’

•   Rs500 million for the ‘Iqra Education Promotion Scheme’ for underprivileged children

•   Rs500 million as ‘Education Fund’ to establish private schools in areas where public schools do not exist

•              Rs15 million for financial incentives to female administrative officers posted in remote districts

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

PESHAWAR: 

Making treatment affordable

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government has planned to initiate a number of projects, one of which would be a health insurance scheme in low-income districts. Families in low-income brackets will be offered insurance cards which will enable them to get free treatment for cancer, AIDS, and kidney and liver diseases. Rs500 million will be sanctioned for the insurance scheme.

‘Insulin for Life’ is another initiative to provide treatment to diabetic patients. Initially, the head of the Hayatabad Medical Complex Endocrinology Department will be the focal person, but eventually the programme will be extended to all district headquarters hospitals, aiming to benefit 15,000 patients.

“Ongoing free treatment for cancer and hepatitis C will continue for which Rs500 million and Rs175 million will be issued, respectively,” reads the document. The K-P government means to provide free treatment to 36,000 tuberculosis and 800 cancer patients.

Facilities at accident and emergency (A&E) departments of Peshawar and other district hospitals will be upgraded and all patients who come to these departments will get free treatment. Rs100 million has been proposed for this.

According to the budget document, qualified management officials would be posted at all tertiary care hospitals.

Maternal and child health

“The government will give Rs200 to those mothers who go for check-ups to qualified doctors after every three months following the birth of their child.” This initiative will at first be launched in 10 districts of K-P to decrease the maternal mortality ratio.

In addition, those mothers who get follow-up health checks during pregnancy from qualified midwives or at a hospital will be granted Rs1,000. The economic plan for 2013-2014 has allocated Rs300 million for this programme, which aims to decrease child mortality rates.

Immunisation has remained a controversial issue in K-P and over the past few years, many children did not receive essential routine vaccinations due to a lack of funds and political will. However, the government claims to have chalked out a new plan.

Under the new strategy, a special programme will be initiated in 10 less-developed districts – those parents whose children receive complete vaccination courses will receive Rs1,000 per child and in total, Rs200 million will be spent on this project.

The broad strokes

The ‘integration of vertical programmes’ – the merger of four projects funded by the centre – will be completed with foreign funding. The annual development programme in health sector for FY 2013-14 will receive Rs8 billion. The PTI, Qaumi Watan Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad’s coalition government also plans to construct the Gajju Khan Medical College in Swabi, provide new instruments to IRNUM, Peshawar, and construct hostels for the Saidu Medical College Swat. The government will continue the training of nurses for the next three years.

A new paediatric ward will be constructed and new instruments will be procured for the surgical ICU at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH). The construction of a paramedics’ hostel at the LRH will also be completed.

The budget goes on to promise the completion of district headquarters hospitals in Kohistan and Hangu, as well as 16 new basic health units. The fiscal plan also includes the completion of A&E units at Kohat, Mardan and DI Khan hospitals. While the document explains some aims in great detail, others are vague at best. The provincial government had consulted the planning and development department to put together a comprehensive plan to improve service delivery in government-run hospitals.

A nutrition and healthcare programme will start across five to eight districts which suffer from the worst health problems.

The government also suggested a survey be carried out to learn about diseases impacting the entire province. It says this exercise might point out where it can start a three-year health project through public-private partnership.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.