The government on Tuesday approved Rs11 billion in supplementary grants including additional funds of Rs1 billion for schemes of parliamentarians ahead of next general elections.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet agreed on an increase in allocation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from Rs90 billion to Rs91 billion.
SDG is an acronym used for the discretionary spending on projects recommended by members of the National Assembly.
The Ministry of Planning gave the additional Rs1 billion by reducing the budget allocation for the poor and backward districts of Pakistan. So far, Rs56 billion has been spent out of the earlier allocation of Rs90 billion.
For the current fiscal year, the government had set aside Rs70 billion for MNAs’ schemes, which was first increased by Rs17 billion and then by Rs3 billion. Now, the third increase has been made in the allocation for MNAs’ projects.
The Cabinet Division had sought Rs2.5 billion but the Ministry of Planning surrendered only Rs1 billion out of the funds earmarked for Pakistan’s poorest districts.
The ECC approved Rs5.6 billion in supplementary grant for the payment of federal government’s share in the import of urea fertiliser in January 2022.
It advised the Ministry of Industries and Production to ensure the early clearance of subsidy payable by provinces on urea imports.
The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) had imported 100,000 tons of urea from China after obtaining loans from commercial banks based on the cash credit limit approved by the Finance Division.
Mark-up is being continuously charged on loans acquired by the TCP. The total amount of subsidy payable by the federal government including the mark-up up to April 30, 2023 was Rs5.4 billion.
The ECC did not take up a summary moved for import of 200,000 tons of more urea as a shortfall of 800,000 tons was anticipated if two local urea plants were closed due to gas shortage.
It approved an additional budget of Rs100 million for the National Highway Authority (NHA) for the construction of a road from Dalbandin to Ziarat, Balochistan.
It also gave a grant of Rs1.7 billion to the NHA to meet the expenditures incurred on the restoration of roads damaged in the floods of 2022. The maximum amount of Rs1.4 billion was being spent on rehabilitating the road network in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, mainly in Dir, Chitral, Swat and Shangla districts.
The prime minister had directed the NHA to mobilise necessary machinery and resources to restore the damaged roads, bridges, flood protection bunds and irrigation infrastructure.
The ECC approved Rs17.3 million in favour of Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission to meet its employee-related expenditures.
Another supplementary grant of Rs922 million was approved for the execution of development projects in Gwadar.
The ECC approved Rs1.1 billion in supplementary grant for payment of salaries to the trade officers serving in Pakistani missions abroad. The additional amount was required to offset the impact of currency devaluation.
Another Rs50 million was approved in favour of the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety for SOS Children’s Villages.
The ECC approved Rs550 million in favour of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for publicity and awareness campaigns of the federal government during the current financial year.
The federal government had earlier allocated Rs2 billion for the publicity campaigns and later gave a supplementary grant of Rs400 million to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the independence of Pakistan.
It was the second supplementary grant approved for the government’s media campaign.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2023.
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