Financial constraints forced govt to cut down uplift budget

ISLAMABAD: In the wake of financial constraints faced by the country, the Fianance Ministry has slashed down proposed development budget from Rs1,000 billion in the outgoing fiscal to Rs745 billion, including Rs108 billion for internally displaced persons (IDPs) for the upcoming budget 2018-19.

According to indicative budget ceiling (IBC) forwarded by the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Planning here on Friday through an official communication, the proposed Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2018-19 was proposed at Rs745 billion in the next fiscal year against Rs1,000 billion allocated in the last budget for 2017-18.

However, the government had slashed down the PSDP to the tune of Rs800 billion for the current fiscal year in a bid to restrict the budget deficit in the range of 5.3 percent of GDP.

“Yes, the IBC shows that the federal government is going to propose only Rs745 billion, including Rs108 billion for the IDPs for the next budget, and it will be difficult for the planning managers to earmark resources for mega projects especially China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” said one top official of the Planning Ministry and added that the ministries/divisions were directed to hold meetings from April 2 to 6 in order to prioritise their projects keeping in view the financial constraints. Instead of allocating funds for new projects, the government has decided to allocate bloc allocations for new initiatives.