Fiscal allocations: NA gets Rs1.8b, Senate Rs1.04b

Rs541m set aside for Prime Minister Secretariat, Presidency allocations increased to Rs473m.

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has allocated Rs541 million for fiscal 2011-12 for the prime minister’s secretariat, registering an increase of Rs57 million against the allocation for the outgoing fiscal year. The government had allocated Rs 481 million for the current fiscal year (2010-11).

As much as Rs331 million has been earmarked to meet expenses of employees with an increase of Rs61 million against Rs270 million allocated for the current fiscal. The government has set aside Rs50 million for the pay of officers working at the prime minister’s secretariat against Rs48 million spent in the current year. An amount of Rs72 million has been allocated to meet expenditure of the secretariat’s lower staff.

About Rs63 million has been put aside on account of grants, subsidies and loan write-offs, while Rs12 million have been allocated for repairs and maintenance of transport vehicles. The government has allocated Rs49 million for the Prime Minister Inspection Commission for the next fiscal year.

National Assembly, Senate

The government has allocated Rs1.8 billion for the National Assembly secretariat for the next financial year, an increase of around 20 per cent against 2010-11 allocations.

A major chunk of Rs977 million would be spent to meet employee-related expenses. Repair work and maintenance of the National Assembly secretariat would cost Rs13.21 million.

Last year, the government had allocated Rs1.57 billion for the National Assembly secretariat.

The government has allocated Rs1.04 billion for the Senate, a major chunk of Rs510 million again set aside for employee-related expenses, including salaries, pensions, allowances and other expenses.

This year, the government set aside Rs749. 11 million for the National Assembly, and Rs571.89 million for the Senate.

Presidency

The federal government has earmarked Rs473 million for the Presidency, effectively increasing the budgetary allocation by almost 11 per cent for the next financial year.

The Presidency’s budget was Rs 427 million in the outgoing fiscal year. Of the total, Rs250.8 million has been allocated for President’s personal secretariat, and Rs223 million for the president’s public secretariat.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.