Punjab to take into consideration climate change impact on economy

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to take into consideration the climate change impact on the Punjab economy in the provincial budget 2024-25.

The Punjab Finance Department in its letter to all the provincial departments has requested to formulate budget/ project proposals considering the climate perspective. It has requested to forward their Budget Call Circular for the submission of the budget proposals for the fiscal year (FY) 2024-25.

In the letter, the finance department noted that climate change has been recognized as a key fiscal risk for the province in all economic, infrastructure and social sectors. In this regard, the government seeks to determine the fiscal burden it has to bear to combat climate consequences that will inform its resource mobilization efforts besides improving efficiency vis-à-vis budget allocation efficiency.

The sources claimed that the government is undertaking climate budget tagging (CBT), a tool for monitoring and tracking climate related expenditures in the national budget system. It provides comprehensive data on climate-relevant spending, enabling the government to make informed decisions and prioritize climate investments.

For the preparation of the Punjab Budget 2024-25, the finance department has asked the provincial departments to forward their Budget Call Circular, which has three main sections: budget calendar representing activities required to complete budget preparation and approval processes by the concerned stakeholders and deadlines for each activity; general guidelines to be followed by the drawing and disbursing officers and administrative departments while formulating and consolidating budget proposals for the financial year; and budget preparation forms and instructions for submission of detailed budget proposals.

Moreover, the administrative departments have been asked to constitute Departmental Priority Committees consisting of senior officers who will ensure that the budget proposals prepared are aligned with the departmental priorities, duly scrutinized and prioritized before forwarding them to the finance department and the Planning and Development Board for consideration.

It may be noted that the budget proposals will contain revised estimates for FY 2023-24, budget estimates for FY 2024-25, Annual Development Programme (ADP) FY2024-25 along with two outer financial year budget estimates for FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27 for medium-term budgeting.