PM orders to prepare financial plan

Economic managers have to prepare plans for readjusting budgetary allocations to divert resources for the relief.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has ordered the country’s economic managers to prepare plans for readjusting budgetary allocations to divert resources for the relief and rehabilitation of those affected by the floods.

The directive came at a meeting here on Wednesday between Gilani and members of his economic team including Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

The government has already said it won’t hesitate to divert funds allocated in the current annual budget for relief and rehabilitation activities.

Gilani said that the disaster has posed a huge challenge for the country for which the whole nation has to rise to the occasion.

The contribution towards helping the flood affected population has to be beyond any political and social divide, a statement quoted Gilani as telling Sheikh, who was until Tuesday outside the country for a personal visit.

The enormity of the damages, the prime minister said, could only be met through a joint strategy of the federal and provincial governments ensuring maximum help to the flood affectees.

Keeping in view the budgetary limitations, he stressed that fiscal discipline and austerity be strictly followed by the federal and provincial governments in the wake of economic pressure that has arisen because of flood relief works.

Gilani directed the financial team to prepare an efficient and transparent system for disbursement of funds that are being collected under the Prime Minister’s flood relief fund to the concerned organisations and the provincial governments.

The system should ensure visible utilisation of funds, he added, so that the benefit reaches the affected people.

The prime minister also directed the Economic Affairs Division to coordinate with foreign donors for assistance, both monetary and otherwise, and accordingly a criterion be worked out for the disbursement and utilisation of the assistance.

Earlier, Sheikh apprised the prime minister of the budgetary position and the economic pressure arising out of the flood situation.

He mentioned that the budget might have to be re-prioritised because of the damages caused.

Published in The Express Tribune August 12^th, 2010.