The previous three governments only spent 15 percent of the total budget expenditure on the development of the country, as per the record of the Ministry of Finance. It ranges from 11-23% during last ten years.
The government (federal and provincial governments) spent Rs. 10.91 trillion on the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) out of a total expenditure of Rs. 72 trillion and Rs. 49 trillion of total revenue during the decade (2013-22), the data showed.
Development expenditures are normally spent on infrastructure, social sector, and other projects improving quality of life. It is also a good measure of expansion in economic growth.
Pakistan spends less on development than the debt servicing payments, which amounted to Rs. 17 trillion during the last decade, as per the data, and its debt servicing expenditure was almost 24 percent of the total budget size.
The data shows that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government spent the least resources on development from the total expenditures as compared to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) governments during the last decade.
PTI spent around 11.63% on development in its tenure. The country has spent 12 percent of the budget resources on development projects from the total budget expenditure. The government has used Rs. 1.03 trillion on PSDP from the total budget size of Rs. 8.44 trillion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
It also spent 12 percent of the total budget size on development schemes as it had used Rs. 1.21 trillion out of a total budget size of Rs. 10.3 trillion during the fiscal year 2020-21. The government spent 11 percent on development schemes out of the total budget expenditures as it used Rs. 1.09 trillion of the total budget size of Rs. 9.65 trillion during FY 2019-20. It also used only 12 percent of total budget resources and spent Rs. 1 trillion on development schemes from a total budget expenditure of Rs. 8.34 billion during FY 2018-19.
The budget record shows that the development expenditures were considerably lesser during the PTI’s tenure as compared to the PML-N’s tenure.
The government under the PML-N spent 19 percent on development schemes out of total expenditures. The development spending was Rs 1.45 trillion out of Rs. 7.48 billion during FY 2017-18.
It spent 23 percent on development schemes out of the total budget expenditure during FY 2016-17. It spent Rs. 1.57 trillion out of a total budget size of Rs. 6.8 trillion during the period.
The government spent 20 percent of the total budget size during FY 2015-16 on development. It used Rs. 1.18 trillion of a total expenditure of Rs. 5.79 trillion during the period. The country spent 15 percent on development out of the total budget expenditure during the fiscal year 2014-15. It spent Rs. 0.78 trillion from Rs 5.38 trillion of total budget expenditures.
The government spent only 17 percent of the total budget size during FY 2013-14 and used Rs. 0.86 trillion out of a total expenditure of Rs. 5.02 trillion.
The PPP government spent 14 percent on development out of total budget resources as it used Rs. 0.69 trillion on development out of total budget expenditure of Rs. 4.8 trillion during FY 2012-13.
Source: Pro Pakistani