ANP rejects KP budget, alleges misleading figures

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party has rejected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s budget for fiscal year 2026-27, with the party’s provincial president Mian Iftikhar Hussain describing it as an exercise in misleading presentation rather than a serious financial plan.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr Hussain said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had now presented its 13th provincial budget but was still failing to place the province’s actual economic position before the public. He questioned the government’s handling of finances and said the budget would drive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa towards economic and administrative deterioration.

He specifically challenged what he described as contradictions in the budget estimates, saying the government had projected a deficit of Rs48 billion while also earmarking Rs52.8 billion for local governments even though district governments were not operational. According to him, the figures raised serious questions about the credibility of the budget framework.

Mr Hussain also took issue with the inclusion of 1,201 new development schemes, alleging that hundreds of them had been given only token funding and that some projects had been assigned merely nominal amounts. He claimed these schemes were aimed at accommodating unhappy lawmakers and shoring up political loyalties instead of serving development needs.

Criticism of sectoral allocations

The ANP leader said the budget had failed to address core social sectors. Referring to education, he claimed that around 4.5 million children in the province remained out of school, while only Rs5 billion had been allocated for them. He argued that the provincial government had given greater importance to road construction than to education.

He further accused the government of neglecting human development, youth affairs and healthcare. Mr Hussain also criticised the continued subsidy burden of the Bus Rapid Transit system and said expenditures in Medical Teaching Institutions were rising, while basic healthcare projects had not been given sufficient allocations.

"This is not a budget but a complex exercise in figures aimed at misleading people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," Mr Hussain said while rejecting the provincial fiscal plan.

Concerns over revenue dependence

Mr Hussain also expressed concern over the province’s continued reliance on federal transfers. He said that despite being in power for 13 years, the provincial government had not made meaningful progress in increasing its own revenue generation and remained financially dependent on the federation.

Calling the document political rather than developmental, he said the ANP fully rejected the budget and urged the provincial government to direct resources toward education, healthcare, employment and sustainable development instead of what he termed politically driven planning.