Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (K-P) Finance Advisor, Muzammil Aslam, expressed concerns on Saturday that the federal government is overlooking the province due to political opposition. During a post-budget press conference, Aslam highlighted that the federal government's economic stability has weakened, with the growth rate dropping to 2.7%.

He mentioned that K-P received only Rs550 million in the federal development budget, which led the province to increase its own development spending due to lack of federal support. Aslam also shared that the province managed to achieve 93% of its revenue targets through its own sources.

Despite this, K-P was allocated Rs90 billion less than its share under the National Finance Commission (NFC). Aslam revealed that the provincial government utilized Rs20 billion from its own treasury for tribal areas and Rs70 billion for merged districts without any federal assistance.

He clarified that K-P did not acquire any new loans, stating that the current loans were part of previous agreements. Any future loans, he mentioned, would only be taken for significant development projects.

Comparing budgets, Aslam pointed out that the Centre's budget is Rs1 trillion, while K-P's budget is Rs547 billion. He informed that an NFC meeting had been planned for August upon K-P's request.

The K-P chief minister raised concerns about pending dues with the Centre, which had assured payments. However, annual funds exceeding Rs47 billion were never disbursed by the federal government for tribal areas, as per Aslam.

Aslam acknowledged the allocation of Rs70.4 billion for merged tribal districts by the Centre for the first time. He mentioned that Rs170 billion in loans were inherited from previous administrations. A Rs1.5 billion fund was established to manage debt repayments, with Aslam expressing satisfaction with K-P's NFC share as a solution to fiscal challenges.

Salaries and pensions were increased by 10% and 7% respectively for the new fiscal year, aligning with federal adjustments. The K-P government included development schemes worth Rs500 billion in its Rs195 billion development budget for the upcoming year.

Out of the allocated Rs156 billion for settled districts, Rs145 billion had already been released this year. For merged tribal areas, Rs41 billion was allocated, with Rs26.9 billion disbursed. Aslam described this as the largest development budget in K-P's history, noting a significant reduction in throw-forward liabilities from 10 years to 5.1 years since taking office.