Lawmakers get Rs20bn more despite fiscal crunch

With all the financial crunch and cuts in development expenditure, there appears to be no dearth of discretionary funds for political plans weeks before the conclusion of the current fiscal year as the government on Wednesday approved Rs20 billion more for parliamentarians’ schemes, taking it to a record Rs111bn. Presiding over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also approved Rs4bn in additional funds for the armed forces and Rs10.75bn for a national immunisation, besides continuing gas supply to two Punjab-based fertiliser plants until Aug 31 this year. The ECC also approved a payment of about Rs34bn for the Uch Power project under a renegotiated-tariff settlement deal, as was done with other IPPs (independent power producers) in February 2021. An official confirmed that the ECC approved “Rs20bn in favour of Cabinet Division for Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme (SAP). In order to secure these additional funds, five ministries were directed to surrender their funds, including Rs10bn from the communications ministry, Rs5.66bn from the railways’ ministry, Rs3.43bn from the climate change ministry and Rs861 million from the Planning Division. This was done with the prior approval of the prime minister.