Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani presents the provincial budget for the financial year 2026-27 in the Balochistan Assembly on Wednesday. Photo: NNI
The Balochistan government on Wednesday unveiled a Rs 1,089 billion budget for the financial year 2026-27, setting aside Rs 206 billion for development spending, announcing the creation of 5,000 government jobs and providing Rs 771 billion in transfers under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.
The provincial cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti, unanimously approved the budget before provincial Finance Minister Mir Shoaib Nosherwani presented it in the Balochistan Assembly.
The total budgetary expenditure amounts to Rs1,089tr, including Rs797b for non-development expenditure and Rs206b for the Provincial Public Sector Development Program (PSDP). Of the development allocation, Rs 106 billion has been earmarked for new projects, while Rs 100 billion has been earmarked for completion of ongoing projects.
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The province will also receive 45 billion rupees in federally funded development projects and 40 billion rupees in foreign project assistance to support investments in infrastructure, education, healthcare, water supply, communications, agriculture and energy.
The government has set a provincial revenue target of Rs170 billion for the next fiscal year, citing taxation reforms, improved fiscal discipline and efficient use of resources to achieve the target.
Chief Minister Bugti termed the budget “balanced, realistic and citizen-friendly”, saying the government had prioritized public welfare, sustainable development, job creation and improvement of basic services despite limited resources.
He said health, education, clean water, infrastructure and employment remained the government’s top development priorities.
Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Nosherwani announced the creation of 5,000 new government jobs, including 3,000 positions in school and university education, 500 in the health department, 1,000 in the newly created districts and another 500 in various provincial departments.
He also announced that Balochistan would receive Rs771 billion under the NFC award in the new fiscal year, attributing the increase to improved revenue collection by the Federal Board of Revenue.
The minister said the NFC transfers would strengthen provincial finances and support development initiatives across the province.
Highlighting tax reforms, Nosherwani said the government would implement the Treasury Single Account (TSA) system to consolidate funds of government and autonomous institutions, a move aimed at improving transparency, financial management and accountability.
He said the province collected a record Rs130 billion in revenue in the previous fiscal year and announced new initiatives to improve revenue generation, including legal assessment gap and revenue assessment gap surveys to identify untapped tax and non-tax revenue sources.
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According to the Finance Minister, the Balochistan Revenue Authority contributed Rs59.8 billion to the provincial revenue in the last financial year, followed by the Energy Department with Rs36.9 billion, the Minerals and Mineral Resources Department with Rs21.1 billion, the Board of Revenue with Rs8.4 billion and the Excise and Taxation Department with Rs4 billion.
The government has allocated Rs96 billion for the health sector, including Rs90 billion as non-development expenditure and Rs6 billion as development budget.
Nosherwani said the allocations also included Rs7.7 billion for Balochistan Health Card, PPHI schemes, medicines, trauma centers, Sheikh Zayed bin Nahyan Hospital and nutrition initiatives.
The budget increases the Balochistan Health Card allocation from Rs4.5 billion to Rs6 billion, PPHI subsidy from Rs7.6 billion to Rs8.8 billion and increases the medicine budget by 23 percent from Rs6.9 billion to Rs8.5 billion.
The Finance Minister also announced 11 new initiatives, including public-private insurance scheme through Bolan Insurance Company Limited, Rs 3.8 billion for solarization of tube wells, Rs 10 billion for establishment of Bank of Balochistan and Rs 3 billion for Balochistan Aviation Company project.
Other measures include Rs 490 million for promotion of mineral resources and investment opportunities, Rs 85 million for heritage and archaeological projects, establishment of e-commerce centers and a third-party validation mechanism for development projects.
