SINDH BUDGET 2026-27: Sindh Assembly passes Rs3.562tr deficit budget for financial year 2026-27

• Thanks to its numerical strength in the house, PPP rejects all cut motions of opposition parties• CM Murad calls budget a document of prudent financial discipline• 143 opposition, treasury MPAs take part in budget debate over seven days• House approves supplementary grants worth Rs165bn

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Sunday passed the Rs3.562 trillion provincial budget 2026-27 with a majority vote, rejecting all cut-motions moved by opposition members belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami.

The assembly also approved the Sindh Finance Bill, under which no new taxes were imposed with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah saying that existing taxes were rationalised and streamlined.

The house rejected with a majority vote the proposed amendment to the Sindh Finance Bill submitted by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Sabir Qaimkhani, seeking an eight per cent super tax on annual agricultural income of Rs50 million or more.

The Bill revises rates across various taxes and widens the tax net, introducing an 8pc super tax on agricultural income exceeding Rs500mn while exempting income below that threshold.

The house also approved supplementary grants worth Rs165bn for the next year with the Leader of Opposition citing Rs273bn in “additional expenditure” through supplementary budget.

A total of 143 lawmakers from the both sides of the aisle took part in the budget debate that lasted for seven days.

Earlier, winding up budget debate, the chief minister defended Rs3.562tr budget for 2026-27, calling it a document of “prudent financial discipline” and an ambitious roadmap to position Sindh as a regional hub for trade, finance, renewable energy and investment.

He said the province maintained fiscal discipline despite a Rs344bn deficit, reduced federal fiscal space and over Rs95bn in additional expenditures last year.

“Even so, we completed........

© Dawn Business