BUDGET 2026-27: AJK Assembly passes Rs286bn budget for FY27

Presided over by Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the assembly sitting witnessed around 50 per cent attendance, including about five lawmakers from the opposition PML-N and PTI. However, towards the end of the session, there was only one PML-N lawmaker in the House. The budget comprises Rs250 billion for recurring expenditure and Rs36bn for development, including Rs1bn in foreign assistance. Presenting the budget, Majeed said the government had framed its financial plan despite severe resource constraints, with public welfare, transparency and good governance remaining its guiding principles. He said the Inland Revenue Department, which constituted the backbone of AJK’s own-source revenues, had achieved a substantial portion of its collection targets during the outgoing fiscal year. However, he acknowledged that the overall revenue target had once again remained unmet due to multiple factors. He attributed the shortfall to the State Bank of Pakistan’s reduced policy rate, which lowered banks’ profit margins to between 9pc and 10pc — less than half the level of previous years — as well as a significant reduction in electricity tariffs that adversely affected receipts from education cess and taxes linked to the sale and purchase of immovable property. Majeed said more than 110 branches of over 70 business entities had been integrated into the AJK Point-of-Sale (POS) invoicing system, which was expected to increase revenue from previously unregistered taxpayers by between 400 and 800pc. The minister told the House that recurring expenditure would be financed through projected receipts