Islamabad:
Days before the presentation of the federal budget, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has instructed ministries to identify redundant government organizations that may be in the budget to save money and also to resolve the issue of subsidies in the electricity sector.
Government sources told The Express PAkGazette that after taking an informative session on the new budget, the prime minister constituted approximately half a dozen committees to address the main pending problems. The committees have been constituted 10 days before the presentation of the budget in the National Assembly.
The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurengzeb, is scheduled to present the budget on June 2 at the National Assembly. The prime minister asked him to solve all pending problems on Saturday.
The sources said that the ongoing discussions are expected to conclude today with the most crucial meeting between the IMF, the Federal Income Board and the Ministry of Finance. They said that the FBR remained the thorny problem in the conversations and that a couple of meetings were also tense in which the IMF personnel questioned the credibility of the commitments granted by the FBR at the time of discussions at the personnel level in March.
The sources said that after the informative session on the budget, the prime minister decided to constitute the committees to solve the pending problems. Established the deadlines until May 24 for the ministries destined to conclude the budget year.
The sources said that the prime minister has instructed all the ministries to review the book Pink to identify redundant and dysfunctional organizations and recommended as part of the government’s reduction and reduction agenda. The deadline is May 24.
The prime minister had constituted a cabinet committee to reduce the size of the government, which carried out the exercise in five different phases. However, the results were maintained below the government’s own expectations.
The Federal Derhermination Rights Committee is expected to complete the revision of the purpose and justification of several state companies, which will be completed at the end of December 2025.
In an informative session to the Permanent Committee of Finance of the Senate last month, the Division of the Cabinet declared that the impulse to reduce government expenses by abolishing the posts would save RS36 billion annually. In addition, he informed that a fifth of the savings were secured when cutting the lowest salary stalls of gardeners, sweeps and pawns.
Around 40,000 positions have already been abolished or declared dying positions in the public sector. Of these 11,558 positions that were abolished or declared, death belonged to the lowest salary scale of Pakistan 1. This is equal to 29% of the total positions that are being abolished. The average salary of the salary scale is RS42,888 and the gardeners and sweeps are recruited on this scale.
The committee was informed to abolish all these almost 40,000 positions would save RS36.3 billion annually. But 19% or RS7 billion savings were against the lowest salary scale 1.
The prime minister also instructed the Minister of Finance to present contours of key budgetary initiatives and priorities that will form the narrative component of the budget discourse. The instructions have also been issued to the advertising wing of the government media and the ministry to guarantee the favorable narrative, the sources added.
In an important development, the Prime Minister also instructed the Minister of Planning and the Minister of Finance to hold consultative meetings with relevant ministries to deliberate on the plans, projects and initiatives proposed for fiscal year 2025–26.
The Committee has had the task of finishing the work for today (Friday) and ensuring that only these projects are added in the public sector development program that can be fully financed in the middle of the scarcity of resources.
The sources said that the Vice Primer Minister Ishaq is expected to preside over a meeting today (Friday) to end next year’s PSDP. The size of the development budget remains uncertain, since the Ministry of Planning and the partners of the coalition have called the size proposed by RS921 billion insufficient.
The sources said that the prime minister asked the interested party that the agreed proposals, together with a summary of key initiatives of all important ministries, must be presented for consideration.
The sources said that one of the pending problems is how much money should be assigned for discretionary spending under the parliamentary program. The original allocation for this fiscal year was approximately RS50 billion, but it is likely that the expense is greater than this, contrary to the cuts against other ministries.
For next fiscal year, the government faces pressure to assign a larger cake for these schemes, known as the ODS achievement program.
ISHAQ to preside on Thursday the 45th Meeting of the Achievement Program of the SDGS Steering Committee (SAP). Giving emphasized the importance of involving local communities in the identification of basic development infrastructure projects. He emphasized the government’s resolution to ensure that resources are used in the best interest of Pakistan citizens, aligning them with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It was decided that unclean funds will be delivered, while the implementation agencies were aimed at using the funds assigned efficiently and responsible. However, the money is not spent is not RS2 billion, the sources said.
The prime minister has also asked the Ministries of Finance and Powers to resolve the issue of the amount of power subsidies. On Thursday a meeting was held between the two ministries, but the problem remained unsolved, said a senior ministry official.
The Government has assigned RS1.04 billion for power subsidies for the next fiscal year, which is equal to 0.8% of GDP. The sources said that Power’s division was asking approximately RS180 billion more because of the participation of oil tax. Shehbaz Sharif had increased the tax rate in RS10 per liter to reduce the cost of electricity in RS1.71 per unit.
The Prime Minister instructed that the Power division and the Finance Division should further adjust the proposal with respect to the assignment of Levy of Petroleum Development (PDL) to provide tariff subsidies, the sources said.
The prime minister asked the oil division to take leadership and resolve the issue of refinery entry tax settings. The oil division has been asked to solve the problem in consultation with the Division of Finance and the Income Division for Saturday.
