The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will spend Rs101.16 billion during the upcoming fiscal year on the repayment of loans and the payment of interest — an amount that is even higher than the combined development programme of 26 out of the province's 34 departments.

According to official budget documents, the amount allocated for debt repayment and interest payments is approximately Rs8.62 billion more than the total development budget of these 26 departments.

The documents show that the provincial government has earmarked Rs45 billion for the repayment of the principal amount of loans obtained from international financial institutions, while Rs54.30 billion has been allocated for interest payments on these loans.

In addition, Rs360 million has been set aside for the repayment of other loans, while Rs1.50 billion has been allocated for interest payments under the Agricultural Financing Support programme. As a result, the total allocation for loan repayment and interest payments amounts to Rs101.16 billion.

On the other hand, the official budget documents show that a total of Rs92.538 billion has been allocated for the development programmes of 26 provincial departments.

These allocations include Rs14.672 billion for Irrigation, Rs13.899 billion for Agriculture, Rs8.083 billion for the Finance Department, Rs7.477 billion for Sports and Youth Affairs, and Rs7.213 billion for Tourism and Culture.

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Similarly, Rs6.973 billion has been allocated for Higher Education, Rs6.293 billion for Local Government, Rs606 million for Law and Justice, Rs4.906 billion for Forests, and Rs4.156 billion for Livestock.

According to the budget documents, Rs3.417 billion has been earmarked for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Rs2.831 billion for Industries, Rs2.344 billion for Social Welfare, Rs2.197 billion for Science and Information Technology, Rs1.598 billion for Auqaf, and Rs1.469 billion for the Board of Revenue.

In addition, Rs1.253 billion has been allocated for Administration, Rs1.125 billion for Transport, Rs849 million for Housing, Rs641 million for Population Welfare, Rs621 million for Food, and Rs548 million for Information.

Furthermore, Rs296 million has been allocated for Minerals, Rs258 million for Labour, Rs254 million for Excise, while Rs99 million has been earmarked for Environment.

The figures indicate that if the provincial government did not have to allocate such a substantial amount for loan repayments and interest payments, it could have fully financed the development programmes of all these 26 departments with ease, while still having billions of rupees available for additional development projects.

The documents further state that the largest repayments to international financial institutions will be made towards loans obtained from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, as several of the province's development and infrastructure projects have been completed with financial assistance and loans provided by these institutions.

According to sources, the repayment of these loans and interest will be carried out through the federal government, which is responsible for financial dealings with international lending institutions. The provincial government will transfer the required funds to the federal government in accordance with the agreed repayment schedule.