As the government seeks to cut expenses, a 10-membered committee has been formed to ensure the implementation of austerity measures. A notification from the Ministry of Finance reads; “Keeping in view the extraordinary financial constraints being faced by the country at present and to conserve resources, extraordinary measures are required to be taken for ensuring rational utilisation of public money besides curtailing expenditure to reduce fiscal deficit. Accordingly, the federal government is pleased to enforce following austerity measures for financial year 2022-23.”
The new austerity measures undertaken by the government
The federal government enforced the following austerity measures for the financial year 2022-23 and imposed a complete ban on:
1. Purchase of all types of vehicles from current and development budget except utility vehicles such as ambulances, busses for educational institutions, solid waste vehicles, etc
2. Creation of new posts except those required for development projects
3. Treatment abroad at government expenses
4. Appointment of contingent paid/daily wagers staff except for development projects
5. Purchase of office furniture except for development projects
6. Purchase of machinery and equipment including air conditioners, microwave, fridge, photocopier, etc
7. Official visits abroad by Government, functionaries where GoP funding is involved except obligatory visits
8. Official lunches/dinners/hi-tea except for foreign delegations
9. Issuance of periodical, magazines, newspapers, etc
Further decisions taken by the centre
Apart from the above mentioned austerity measures the government has further decided that:
1. POL usage of ministers’ vehicles would be slashed by 40% and security vehicles of cabinet members would be reduced by 50%
2. VIP cavalcades’ expenses would be reduced without compromising security
3. Reduce the consumption of utilities by 10%
4. Vacant/redundant/non-productive posts be abolished
5. Avoidable travel be curtailed by promoting use of zoom/ video links
All ministries/divisions are requested to disseminate the above instructions to all their concerned departments/organizations/autonomous /corporations/authorities, etc for strict compliance and Provincial governments are also encouraged to adopt these measures.
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