The government on Monday approved the immediate release of more than Rs61.3 billion for the parliamentarians’ schemes aimed at utilising the maximum amount for politically-oriented projects before the end of its term.
The Planning Commission’s (PC) decision to release the fund in the first month of the current fiscal year will also unblock the funding for other projects, as disagreement over the quantum of releases for the parliamentarians’ schemes had led to no releases for other projects.
The political leadership wanted to utilise the entire Rs90 billion allocations for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an acronym used for the parliamentarians’ schemes, during the first quarter, according to Planning Ministry sources.
However, the bureaucracy had informed that up to half of the allocated budget could be released in the first quarter. But it must also align with the overall development spending strategy for the fiscal year 2023-24.
Now it has been decided that out of the Rs90 billion budget, Rs41 billion will be released. At the same time, another Rs20.3 billion will be given from the leftover funds of the last fiscal year against the SDGs allocations. Rs61.3 billion, or 68% of this year’s approved budget, will be given for the parliamentarians’ schemes.
As per the finance ministry guidelines, 15% of the annual budget can be used in the first quarter, but the ministry provided an exception to this clause to the extent of the parliamentarians’ schemes.
The disagreement over the SDGs funds had caused a freeze in authorising the development budget for the first quarter. As against the quarterly development spending ceiling of Rs131 billion out of the total annual budget of Rs950 billion, no funds have been released yet, the sources said.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told The Express Tribune that “50% release [of the SDGs funds] was approved on Monday”, which he added will be released. Iqbal was approved as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
Based on the minister’s approval, the planning ministry issued a total release order of Rs61.3 billion to the Cabinet Division. The division is the custodian of these funds, which are subsequently released based on a decision taken by a steering committee in light of requests from the constituencies of the parliamentarians.
