65 govt departments to be downsized

Defence ministry, judiciary also in line

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ISLAMABAD:

The government announced on Tuesday the abolition or relocation of 65 departments as part of its strategy to reduce its size. The Ministry of Defence and the Judiciary will also undergo downsizing.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, addressing a press conference, explained that the decision followed reviews of 10 ministries under a plan to rightsize the government.

Out of the 65 entities, 40 will be abolished in the first phase. Of these, 28 will either be closed, privatised, or transferred to the provinces.

"Each and every ministry is under review and no exemption has been given", Aurangzeb said, while responding to a question whether the size of the Ministry of Defence and the Judiciary would also be reduced during the ongoing exercise.

The finance minister said that the Cabinet Committee on Rightsizing will undertake the review of all the 43 ministries and 400 entities under their supervision in a phased manner. The total allocation for these ministries and their attached departments is Rs876 billion for this fiscal year.

However, the minister did not share any figures of the amount of savings that will occur after closing down these entities, which have so far been reviewed by the committee working to reduce the government size. So far, the government has undertaken the review of 10 ministries in two phases.

These are Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (Safron), Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Telecom, Ministry of Industries & Production, Ministry of National Health Services, Capital Administration Division, Ministry of Science & Technology (S&T), Commerce Division, Ministry Housing & Works and Ministry of National Food Security & Research.

The finance minister said that the Capital Administration Division has been closed while the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Ministry of Safron have been merged. The government has, however, decided to retain both the Ministry of Food Security and the Ministry of Health but closed down their many departments. Under the Constitution, agriculture and health are provincial subjects.

The government has closed down 40 entities working under the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, Ministry of SAFRON, Ministry of IT and Telecom, Ministry of Industries & Production and Ministry of National Health Services.

Only one entity under the IT Ministry has been closed down. The maximum numbers of departments –25 – will be closed down under the Ministry of Industries. Ten entities working under the Ministry of Health Services will be closed down but 20 still remain under its supervision.

The finance minister said that in the case of the S&T Ministry, Commerce Division, Ministry Housing & Works and Ministry of National Food Security & Research, 25 entities will be closed down. The sizes of another 26 entities under these ministries will be reduced, while nine entities will be merged with other departments.

"The purpose of reducing the size of the government is not just to save expenditures but also to improve efficiency as more than one departments were performing one task," said Bilal Azhar Kayani, a member of the cabinet committee. He added that all grade 1 to 22 positions would be reviewed for downsizing.

In order to abolish the positions in grade 17 to 22, the finance minister said, there is a need to amend the Civil Servants Act. He added that the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases had already cleared the draft of the amendments.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had set up the committee under the supervision of the finance minister in June last year to reduce the government size. Under the third phase, the government will review the status of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Heritage, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Power.

The minister said that the government had already decided to abolish 150,000 vacant posts and non-core services like gardening and cleaning will be outsourced.

Salman Ahmad, convener of the Rightsizing Implementation Committee, said that the exercise to reduce the size of the government should be seen in the light of the efforts to reduce the burden on the shoulders of the taxpayers. He said that the right sizing exercise would be balanced, and implemented across the board.

The finance minister emphasised the need for implementing a single treasury account aimed at placing all the taxpayers' money in the central bank. The minister admitted that so far 80% of the public funds were deposited in the central bank's main account.

"The finance ministry should have live visibility on the cash balance of all government entities," he said. "This is being implemented now by all ministries," he added.

The finance minister said that the process of rightsizing would be completed by June 30, 2025, which was also a condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He reiterated that the government's role was to give a policy framework, while the private sector was responsible for job creation.