Planning ministry releases Rs129bn uplift funds for last quarter
The announcement comes at a time when the government did not provide Rs21 billion to the ECP for holding elections in Punjab
ISLAMABAD: The government has so far utilised Rs320 billion on various development projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), out of the total allocated amount of Rs714 billion for the current financial year.
The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has granted authorisation and released a total of Rs600 billion. It announced on Sunday that it had released an instalment of Rs129 billion to ministries/ divisions for the execution of development projects during the last quarter (April-June) period of the current financial year. The announcement had come at a time when the government did not provide Rs21 billion in funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding elections in Punjab on the pretext of facing severe financial constraints.
The official data shows that a huge gap exists between the authorisation for the release of funds and actual spending on the ground, mainly because the Ministry of Finance did not sanction the full authorised amount. There is a gap of almost 50 per cent between authorisation and actual expenditures so far in the current fiscal year.
Official sources told The News in unofficial discussions that the Ministry of Planning released Rs471 billion till the end of March 2023, out of which the actual expenditures stood at Rs316 billion. With the release of the latest installment of Rs129 billion last week, the total expenditures up to April 16, 2023 have gone up to Rs320 billion. It is yet to be seen how much the ministries/ divisions and attached departments would be able to maximise utilisation of the allocated and released funds till end of June 2023.
The government had allocated Rs544 billion for ministries/ divisions, Rs108 billion for corporations such as NHA, NTDC/PEPCO and Rs500 million for ERRA on the eve of the last budget for 2022-23. There was a total allocation of Rs654 billion, while the foreign exchange component stood at Rs60 billion, so the total allocated amount of PSDP went up to Rs714 billion.
Till the end of March, the released funds for the rupee component stood at Rs370 billion, while the multilateral and bilateral creditors provided Rs100 billion and foreign exchange component exceeded its allocated money.
Out of the total authorised amount of Rs471 billion, the expenditures incurred on the ground stood at just Rs316 billion as of March 31, 2023. With the existing pace of utilisation, it seems hard that the actual expenditures would hardly cross the Rs450-billion mark on account of PSDP spending till the end of June 2023.
However according to Sunday’s official statement, issued by the Ministry of Planning, despite financial constraints and disruptions caused by super floods last year, the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives had released Rs129 billion for development projects under the PSDP for the fourth quarter of 2022-23. The Water Resource Division and Higher Education Commission (HEC) have been given top priority.
In the last quarter of 2021-22, there was a zero release for the PSDP, which resulted in the government shrinking the PSDP from Rs700bn to Rs550 bn. According to the latest data provided by the Planning Ministry, an amount of Rs129 bn had been released for development projects under the PSDP for the fourth quarter 2022-2023, including Rs27 bn for Azad Jammu & Kashmir AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan GB and ex-FATA.
An amount of Rs30 bn was released to the Power Division to speed up projects like Diamer-Bhasha Dam, Mohmand Dam, Kachi Canal, and Nai Gaj Dam, while Rs22 bn was released for the Ministry of Communication to expedite projects like Khuzdar-Kuchlak Road and dualisation and improvement of Old Bannu Road. Rs8 bn was released for the HEC to complete the projects. Similarly, an amount of Rs4 billion was released for the Ministry of Housing and Works, Rs8 bn for the Ministry of Railways, and Rs5 bn for the Power Division.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has been struggling to cope with the economic challenges and has taken several initiatives for the country’s development, particularly the development of Balochistan, which was badly devastated by recent floods. The minister said the PMLN government from 2013 to 2018 uplifted the economy and several mega projects, including CPEC, were introduced, but unfortunately, the experiment of bringing the PTI rule shrank the PSDP to Rs500 billion in April 2021.
The ministry is committed to allocating funds for development projects despite financial constraints, and the release of Rs129 bn for the PSDP would be a significant step towards achieving the country’s development goals. The ministry aims to prioritise water resources to ensure smooth implementation of social development initiatives.
