KP Assembly Passes Rs 1,332bn Budget, Fixes Minimum Wage At Rs 26,000.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a Rs 1,332 billion budget for the financial year 2022-23 through 64 demands for grants (DFG).

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan congratulated the finance minister and his team over the passage of the finance bill and said the provincial government presented a balanced budget in the history of the province.

Referring to the MMA and ANP governments in the province, he alleged that in the past the road projects remained delayed. The two major political parties while in government had taken loans from the International Monetary Fund 20 times.

He said former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from the government for pursuing an independent foreign policy and hinting at not taking loans from the IMF and the country had to face an economic crisis.

The CM urged the federal and provincial governments not to impose ban on the transportation of wheat to the KP province.

Commenting on the budget, he said 33 percent of the development budget was being given to the people. Some Rs 200 billion would be directly spent on public welfare initiatives, including Insaf Health Card, Insaf Food Card, Kisan Card, Wheat Subsidy, stipend for Ulema, Education Card, free IT training for youth, free medicines, soft loans and free education for schoolchildren.

He said the provincial government succeeded to increase the annual revenue from RS 30 billion to Rs 75 billion, besides creating 1.8 million jobs and increasing the literacy rate by 55 percent from 52 percent.

He said FATA's merger was a big challenge and the PTI government successfully accomplished it, and now the tribal districts had representation in the assembly.

He said for the first time local government elections were held in the tribal districts and the KP government also approved laws in that regard, besides allocating Rs 130 billion budget for...