Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: The government has allocated Rs7.5 billion for the science and technology ministry for the financial year 2016-17, documents obtained by The Express Tribune showed on Saturday.
For 2016-17, the science and technology ministry got the lowest increase in the budget allocation against funds set aside during the past five years.
Of the total amount, Rs1.8 billion was allocated for development projects and Rs5.7 billion for non-development budget.
“The increase in the budget allocation for fiscal year 2016-17 is hardly 5 percent against the previous year,” said an official of the Ministry of Science and Technology who requested anonymity.
He said that of the Rs5.7 billion, nearly Rs5 billion (almost 88 percent) will be spent on salaries and pensions, while the remaining Rs65 million (1.1 per cent) will be used for research and development and Rs7 million will be used for operational tasks.
“The ministry demanded Rs565 million for R&D but in return got Rs65 million. Now the ministry is facing a huge shortfall of Rs500 million for R&D,” said the official.
Terming R&D crucial for scientific progress, the official said that without it, it was impossible to introduce new technology, said the official.
“But the government appears to be least interested in investing in R&D, which will negatively impact the country in achieving targets and competing with neighboring countries in the field of science and technology,” said the official.
Since 2012-13, funds allocated for R&D were dropped from Rs72 million to Rs65 million for the next fiscal year, said the official.
“Pakistan is blessed with professionals and talented minds … but limited financial resources restrain their working capacity”, said the official.
Trend of the budget allocation for the last five years (non-development)
According to documents, there was an increase of 11.63 per cent in funds set aside for the ministry 2012-13 which further increased to 16.59 per cent in fiscal year 2013-14. In 2014-15, funds dropped to 10.28 per cent while during 2015-16, it slightly increased to 14.41 per cent.
According to fresh data, a major decline in allocation was seen in the financial year 2016-17 which dropped to 4.68%.
On the other hand, there has been an increase in the amount set aside for paying pensions and salaries to the staff of the ministry since 2012-2013.
The amount was increased from Rs3.1 billion in 2012-13 to Rs5 billion in 2016-17.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2016.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ