Exercising their autonomy, the four federating units have come up with a mix of deficits, surplus and balanced 2021-22 budgets with a renewed focus on social and economic uplift programmes.
While Punjab and KP did generally follow the policy guidelines set by the central PTI leadership, the specifics in their budgets like that of the two other provinces, show a sharp deviation from the federal budget targets set for them.
The provincial budgets are seen by many as the starting point for a two-year electoral campaign for national polls to be held in 2023. Pakistan’s Democratic Movement’s street politics is expected to resume in early July.