Funds made available: NBP told to resume payments from Gilgit-Baltistan account

State Bank halted disbursements due to lack of funds.

GILGIT:

Ending a 17-day freeze, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday directed the National Bank to resume payments from the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government account.

The payments were stopped on the directives of the SBP owing to insufficient funds in the regional government’s account.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an official of the G-B government’s finance department said the state bank’s earlier decision to stop payments was taken because the federal government had not released funds to the G-B account for the second half of the year, ending June 2012.

As a result, government suppliers, contractors and hundreds of pensioners who come to Gilgit, the region’s administrative centre, to collect payments were turned away, he said.

The official explained that the finance division of the federal government released Rs3.5 billion to the G-B government in June last year as non-development budget up till December 31, 2001.

Subsequently, the amount was consumed by the regional government in the stipulated time, however, the federal government delayed the release of funds to the G-B government for the remaining period.

Another official of the G-B finance department, requesting anonymity, said the ongoing financial crisis in the country has not only hindered the regional government in fulfilling its obligations, it has also seriously inconvenienced thousands of pensioners and contractors who have been unable to receive their payments.

He said earlier a summary sent by the G-B government to Islamabad for release of funds for the remaining year was returned by the SBP due to some discrepancies in the report.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2012.