PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtun­khwa government on Friday presented a Rs2.119 trillion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, featuring a record Rs547 billion development outlay, a projected cash surplus of Rs157bn and a hike in the minimum wage to Rs40,000.

The budget also includes a 10 per cent increase in salaries of government employees and a 7pc rise in pensions.

The budget session, however, was marred by an unusual stand-off between the provincial government and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who did not return a summary to call the budget session, forcing the government to convene the session through a requisition instead — perhaps for the first time in the province’s parliamentary history.

KP’s newly appointed finance minister, Aftab Alam Afridi, presented the tax-free budget, which projects federal receipts as the main revenue source, totalling Rs1.506tr. This includes Rs1.147tr from the federal divisible pool, Rs137.9bn under the one per cent share for the war on terror, Rs57.11bn in straight transfers, Rs58.15bn in windfall levy on oil, Rs34.5bn in net hydel profit (NHP) and Rs71.4bn........

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