LAHORE: The Punjab Cabinet in its second meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, went through some significant decisions, including the approval of the provincial budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 amounting to Rs4480.7 billion.
As per the budget breakdown, allocations of Rs596 billion would be made for education, Rs473.6 billion for health, Rs382 billion for construction, and Rs127.7 billion would be allocated for local government projects.
As the development budget is concerned, an allocation of Rs655 billion has been kept while additionally, an estimated budget of Rs20 billion has been reserved for social security measures.
Cabinet Approves Ramzan Package
The meeting also made some specific allocations including Rs30 billion Ramazan package, Rs11 billion for free book supplies, and Rs12.5 billion for the Central Business District and PKLI endowment fund.
Moreover, the expansion program of hygiene has received Rs11.4 billion, while Rs264 billion has been reserved for the payment of wheat debt. Also, Rs25.6 billion has been kept for agriculture subsidies, reflecting the support of the government for the farming community.
Meanwhile, in her remarks at the meeting, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that the provincial cabinet has announced the best-ever Ramazan package which would benefit the poor masses. She expressed satisfaction with the recent efforts from the government in improving price control, noting that commodity prices were going down due to these measures.
Maryam Nawaz appreciated the entire team for their dedicated efforts in implementing the Ramazan package and ensuring effective price control measures. She said that the package would be further increased in the next year.
