Provinces return Rs202bn to centre

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s four provinces returned Rs202 billion to the centre on Sunday, indicating that they underspent on development projects for the quarter.

The amount was returned in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2020. While the surplus money will be good for economic indicators it will also represent the fact that economic activity has taken a downturn in the country and development and infrastructure projects were not a high priority for provincial governments.

Punjab doled out the largest refund to the Center, handing over a cash surplus of Rs75.4 billion out of its total revenue of Rs366 billion.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government could not spend almost Rs54 billion from its available funds of Rs141 billion.

Balochistan sent back Rs37.3 billion out of its total revenue of Rs86 billion.

While, Sindh provided the lowest cash back of Rs35.5 billion of its revenue of Rs 199 billion.