Balochistan budget likely today

QUETTA: Balochistan’s budget for the next financial year 2010-2011 will likely be presented today.

It will be a development-oriented budget having an unprecedented outlay of around Rs 45 billion and maximum focus on the education sector, sources in the provincial finance department said.

The sources did not disclose the exact total volume of the province’s next financial year budget, yet it has been estimated up to Rs 120 billion. This is a record increase of around Rs 45 billion as compared to the current budget thanks to the enhanced share of the province in the NFC Award and the Gas Development Surcharge (GDS).

The non-development budget of the province would be up to Rs 70 billion, the sources maintained. Meanwhile, Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Muhammad Asim Kurd told media that the provincial budget would be as per aspirations of the masses, and of course, in their best interest. He said that it would be a tax-free budget.

He said that education would be priority in the new budget as a record Rs22 billion would be earmarked in the sector. While the health and water supply sectors would also fetch additional allocations in the budget, he added.

The provincial finance minister also disclosed that the province would get around Rs 83 billion as per its share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award while Rs10-13 billion would be put in the provincial exchequer.

Asim Kurd, who is going to present the second budget on June 21, said that some 20,000 new jobs would be created in the next budget. He also disclosed that salaries of government employees and police personnel will be increased as per their demand. He also said that a proposal of setting up new industries was also under consideration in the next fiscal year budget.

Pakistan rice crop hit by tight water supplies

DUBAI: Pakistan”s 2010-2011 season rice crop is expected to drop by 14 percent versus the year earlier as India limits water supplies to Pakistan, a board member on Pakistan”s Rice Exports Association said Sunday.

Pakistan”s Indus river basin is supplied by melting snow and glaciers from the Himalayas. Both India and Pakistan make use of the Indus, with the river managed under a 1960 water treaty.

India has lately begun taking more than its fair share from the headwaters by building a number of dams and waging water war against its downstream neighbour.

India denies this.

“In 2010-2011 we expect to face a drop of 14 percent in production because of limited water supplies because India is building dams and diverting water from the same river we share,” Sham Khan said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Dubai.

“This water issue is a serious problem and Pakistan is currently in talks with India to try to resolve this issue as agriculture represents around 23.3 of our GDP.”

During the 2009-2010 season, which starts in August and ends in February, Pakistan produced around 6.7 million tonnes of the water intensive crop due to good weather conditions, Khan said.

Other factors aside from water supplies have also impacted the rice crop, Khan said. Some farmers have switched to cash crops such as cotton and sugar due to the abundance of rice on global markets, he added. Global rice supplies this year are expected to grow by 1 percent compared to 2009, he said.

“The excess supply will push the prices down and farmers want to make the most profit out of their land. That”s why they are looking to grow other crops,” he said.

Despite the drop in output, exports were expected to remain buoyant as domestic demand in Pakistan was mainly for wheat and not rice, said Khan.

He declined to estimate the volume of exports for the 2010-2011 crop. For the previous season, Pakistan exported around 3 million tonnes of rice, he said.

Pakistan mainly exports long grain Basmati rice to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

“We also have a small market in Africa but right now they are demanding cheap grades of grain like broken rice which comes from places like Vietnam, so our target this year is to expand our Middle East market share to compensate for this,” Khan said.

The vast majority — between 90 and 95 percent – of Pakistan”s water is used for agriculture, while the average use in developing countries is between 70 and 75 percent.

The remaining trickle is used for drinking water and sanitation for Pakistan”s 180 million people.

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