Share of FATA in KP budget of annual federal budget

Sineen Afridi

Introduction

In its 2024-25 financial year. The KP government has planned to get Rs1.754 per billion. From the whole amount, the federal government will give a quarter of a billion for the new merged districts of the former FATA. In addition, it could be seen from the search results that the development budget for newly merged areas of the former FATA had up to about Rs. 38 bln in FY 2019-20 and up to about Rs. 48 bln in FY 2020-21. Hence, the share of allocated funds for former FATA is, approximately, 259 billion out of the total 1,754 billion budget for the FY 2024-25, which is around 14.8 percent of the KP provincial budget. The trend of the development budget for the newly merged areas is another increase.

History

The north-west Pakistani Tribal Area is semi-autonomous with 4.2 million people over 27,220 square km and does not suffer most of the Pakistani laws and official organizations. This region was independent or semiautonomous during the time of British Raj, except for occasional incursions. The British Raj only acted as a buffer between British India and the Soviet Union. In 1973, the Pakistani Constitution retained FATA’s semiautonomous status due to popular demand by the locals. This has also attracted outlaws and terrorist outfits—the Taliban who have thrived on illegal activities. During the Afghan and Soviet Wars, the Taliban used FATA as a safe haven; the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated further during this period.

The change of financial allocation to FATA changed since its merger with KP

Prior to the merger, it was a fact that in 2018 the financial arrangement for the ex-FATA region was not the same as it was throughout the process of the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in 2018:

1. During the fiscal year 2018-19, the federal government released Rs30 billion for development projects in the merged districts under the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP) and Annual Development Programme (ADP) , which was only 30% of the promised Rs100 billion per year for 10 years.
2. In 2019-20, this was enhanced to Rs.38 billion in AIP and ADP.
3. For FY 2020-21, the development budget for Newly Merged Areas (former FATA) increased to about Rs.48 bln
4. The general allocation for the merged districts in the contemporary financial 12 months 2021-22 changed into Rs. 131 billion, out of which Rs. 60 billion was for cutting-edge expenditure, Rs. 17 billion for the rehabilitation of internally displaced humans, and Rs. Fifty four billion for improvement.
5. The federal authorities has, however, decreased the allocation by means of Rs 21 billion to Rs a hundred and ten billion in the fiscal yr 2022-23. The development budget has been reduced from Rs fifty four billion to Rs 50 billion, even as the present day expenditure will remain at Rs 60 billion.
6. The KP government allocated Rs 259 billion out of a budget of Rs 1,754 billion to the united states for FY 2024-25, which worked out to about 14.8% of the provincial budget.

Justification of taking money out of FATA by Federal government

The federal government has justified the diversion of funds from the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the following ways:

• Of the entire amount of Rs 50 billion earmarked for the blended districts inside the current financial yr, the federal government took manipulate of Rs 50 billion. The move is being visible as layout to stop the KP management headed by PTI from reaping the benefits of center’s monetary sources to woo electorate within the by election.
• The federal government has decided to spend 20 per cent of the surplus funds from the previous FATA development plan on legislative projects and is shunning provincial governments in appealing for spending on “strategic transparency” on and in line with sustainable development goals.
• To justify the receipt of these funds, the federal government has directed the Central Bank of Pakistan to conduct a special audit of these funds “with a complaint against the KP government stating that they were used to count FATA funds if.” used in atom-trained areas”.
• The Federal Government led by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission has formed a steering group to decide on the use of about Sh40 billion out of Sh50 billion. This is understood as a first step toward greater cooperation and transparency in spending decisions.

Conclusion:

Since the merger with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the subsidy for the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas has been increased from Rs 30 bln in 2018–19 to Rs 259 bln in 2024–25. However, this was lower than the earlier promise of Rs 100 crore per annum for a period of ten years. The 20% share of FATA development funds by the federal government for MLAs’ schemes raises questions of political influence and transparency. Tensions between the federal and provincial governments: as the last merged states get the funds at a very nominal and small share of the given amount.

References:

Sineen Afridi

Khyber Tribal District

MSc in Peace and Conflict studies.