Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman presented the provincial budget in the assembly.
The budget session of the Punjab Assembly began with a delay of one hour and forty minutes under the chairmanship of Speaker Punjab Assembly Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan. The session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran, Naat Rasool Maqbool ﷺ and the national anthem. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was also present in the session.
During the budget session, the opposition protested vigorously and started raising slogans as soon as they entered the house. The opposition members raised slogans of “Shame, shame, release Khan” while they also had placards in their hands demanding the release of Imran Khan.
As soon as the Finance Minister’s budget speech began, the opposition intensified its protest and stood in front of the Punjab Chief Minister near the speaker’s dais. The opposition members also raised slogans of “Fake budget rejected, rejected”.
Despite the government holding a paperless session, the opposition members had brought papers with them. During the Finance Minister’s speech, the opposition tore papers in protest and threw them in the house, which created a very turbulent atmosphere in the meeting.
Earlier, in the Punjab cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz approved the presentation of the budget for the new fiscal year.
An important meeting of the Punjab cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, in which various issues related to the budget for the new fiscal year were considered. The meeting discussed in detail the financial targets and budget proposals for the next fiscal year.
According to sources, the cabinet meeting reviewed various recommendations included in the budget, while proposals related to the salaries and pensions of government employees were also under consideration. The participants of the meeting discussed various provisions of the budget and their possible impacts.
Sources say that Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif has approved the presentation of the budget for the next fiscal year in the cabinet meeting, after which the way has been paved for presenting the budget in the Punjab Assembly.
A special resolution on the Iran-US agreement was passed in the 35th meeting of the provincial cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
In addition, for the first time, a 25 percent increase in the targets of the Board of Revenue and a 77 percent increase in the targets of the Excise and Taxation and Narcotics Department were proposed. For the first time, a 25 percent increase in the targets of the Board of Revenue and a 77 percent increase in the targets of the Excise and Taxation and Narcotics Department. Overall, Punjab’s own revenue targets were increased by 42.7 percent, a 7 percent increase in the salaries of provincial employees and a 3.5 percent increase in pensions were approved.
Earlier, the Punjab government proposed to reduce the development budget for the financial year 2026-27 from Rs 1450 billion to Rs 752 billion. According to sources, a development budget of Rs 1240 billion was approved in the last financial year 2025-26, while only Rs 752 billion has been proposed for development projects this year.
Thus, the development budget has been reduced by Rs 488 billion compared to the previous year.
Last year, 5755 projects were part of the budget, while this year this number has come down to 3560, meaning 2195 projects have been reduced. Similarly, 1662 new projects were added last year, while only 420 new projects are proposed to be added this year.