Govt unable to fully spend uplift funds despite cuts

Utilises 93% of the budgetary allocation for development

ISLAMABAD:  

The federal government has been unable to completely spend the development funds allocated for the fiscal year 2018-19 despite cutting them down after coming to power.

With only nine days remaining in the ongoing fiscal year, the government has utilised 93% of the budgetary allocation for development.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had restricted the development budget to Rs675 billion.

The cut in development funds came over the alleged inclusion of unapproved development scheme in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The federal government had also cut down other expenditures.

However, statistics reveal that the government released Rs629 billion for PSDP schemes.

The government was unable to spend Rs4 billion earmarked for the development of gas infrastructure.

An amount of Rs227.61 billion was released for the development and repair of national highways. In addition, a sum of Rs29.26 billion was released for higher education development projects, Rs71.55 billion for water resources, Rs42.39 as block allocation funds for Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, Rs10 billion for the 10-year development plan for the erstwhile FATA, Rs970 million for the Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Programme, Rs11.82 billion for the interior ministry, Rs330 million for the Petroleum Division, Rs23.25 billion for the Pakistan Railways, Rs4.07 billion for housing and construction, Rs1.63 for information technology and Rs400 million for industry and production.