PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra Tuesday termed provincial budget for financial year 2021-22 as business friendly as various taxes were abolished, merged or cut down to simplify the taxation system of the province.
He expressed these views while talking to a delegation of World Bank that called him here in office on Tuesday. During meeting they discussed cooperation between KP government and World Bank.
Talking on the occasion, the provincial minister said that taxes on various sectors have been abolished, some were merged and the ratio of several taxes cut down. These steps, he said have been taken for promotion of business and trading activities in the province.
Similarly, he said a big chunk of the budget has been allocated for the construction and maintenance of roads. The construction of new roads, he said will turn the travelling between urban and rural areas easy and help trigger economic activities.
The provincial minister said that the focus of the government is people and maximum allocations have been made on projects aimed at providing facilities to them.
Jhagra, who holds the portfolio of Health Department, said that special allocations have been made for the capacity building of Basic Health Units (BHUs) of rural areas and district headquarters hospitals to provide best health facilities to common man.
He added that maximum allocations have also been made for clean drinking water projects in the province including newly merged districts. He said that beside the cooperation of federal government, the provincial government is also spending hefty amount from its own receipts.
The finance minister said that the provincial government is also focusing on increase in its own receipts and target of the collection of Rs 75 billion has been fixed in the budget for financial year 2021-22.
On this occasion, the Country Head of World Bank appreciated the provincial budget as best one and reiterated his resolve for further strengthening of ongoing mutual cooperation with KP government.