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AHORE, Oct 21: The Punjab government has decided to cut its non-development operational (non-salary, non-obligatory) expenditure for the current fiscal year by just below 10 per cent to Rs27 billion for saving money to help the flood survivors in the province and overcome financial crunch.
Officials told Dawn on Wednesday that economic recession in the country, increase in the salaries of government employees and flood losses had strained the financial resources of the province. In order to ease the situation, the government has asked provincial departments to cut back on their non-essential spending.
Punjab is facing a shortfall of almost Rs8 billion in federal transfers under the National Finance Commission (NFC). It received Rs80 billion during the first quarter of the financial year to September as against the projected amount of Rs88 billion, officials said.
The provincial government has estimated economic losses from the recent flood to be in the range of Rs250-300 billion. These include agriculture losses of Rs80 billion and those of infrastructure over Rs100 billion.
In addition to slashing the departments operational expenditure, the austerity committee headed by finance minister Tanvir Ashraf kaira has also suggested several measures to save money. It has already placed a ban on the purchase of new vehicles, machinery and equipment, etc.
The committee hopes the austerity measures will help the government save at least Rs8 billion. But, the officials said, the impact of these measures on the budget would become visible only at the end of the fiscal year.
The government has already decided to cap its spending under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) to last years revised estimates of Rs134 billion in the wake of massive flooding in several districts. Originally, the government had planned to spend Rs190.5 billion on development projects in the province.
The provincial departments have been told to review their development projects and shelve all new schemes that are yet to be started, a senior planning and development department official said.
The officials said the finance department had released a sum of Rs60 billion to the P&DD for development.
Officials told Dawn on Wednesday that economic recession in the country, increase in the salaries of government employees and flood losses had strained the financial resources of the province. In order to ease the situation, the government has asked provincial departments to cut back on their non-essential spending.
Punjab is facing a shortfall of almost Rs8 billion in federal transfers under the National Finance Commission (NFC). It received Rs80 billion during the first quarter of the financial year to September as against the projected amount of Rs88 billion, officials said.
The provincial government has estimated economic losses from the recent flood to be in the range of Rs250-300 billion. These include agriculture losses of Rs80 billion and those of infrastructure over Rs100 billion.
In addition to slashing the departments operational expenditure, the austerity committee headed by finance minister Tanvir Ashraf kaira has also suggested several measures to save money. It has already placed a ban on the purchase of new vehicles, machinery and equipment, etc.
The committee hopes the austerity measures will help the government save at least Rs8 billion. But, the officials said, the impact of these measures on the budget would become visible only at the end of the fiscal year.
The government has already decided to cap its spending under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) to last years revised estimates of Rs134 billion in the wake of massive flooding in several districts. Originally, the government had planned to spend Rs190.5 billion on development projects in the province.
The provincial departments have been told to review their development projects and shelve all new schemes that are yet to be started, a senior planning and development department official said.
The officials said the finance department had released a sum of Rs60 billion to the P&DD for development.
