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Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Federal govt notifies grant of compensatory allowance
ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday notified grant of compensatory allowance for federal government employees. Finance Division issued an office memorandum which stated that federal government has granted Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA-2025) at the rate of 30 percent of the running basic pay as on 30-06-2022 to those offices which are already in receipt of that allowance. DRA is accounted for the calculations of compensatory allowance to federal government employees who are serving on deputation basis as per terms and conditions prescribed in Finance Division's OMNoF.3(14)R-3/2009-477, dated 29-11-2023, i.e. the amount of DRA will be reduced from the amount of Compensatory Allowance. It is requested that offices which are in receipt of DRA and they have officers who are drawing Compensatory Allowance on 1st July, 2025, the amount of Compensatory Allowance of those officers may be reduced by the amount of DRA-2025 at the rate of 30 per cent w.e.f. 1st July, 2025. Ministries/Divisions are requested to circulate these instructions to departments/autonomous/semi-autonomous/corporate bodies etc under their administrative control, for compliance. The copy of this OM is being endorsed to Controller General of Accounts and AGPR for implementation of this decision,' the memorandum noted. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
11-07-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
PSDP spending revised to Rs1.05tr
Listen to article Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal announced on Thursday that actual federal development spending surged to a record Rs1.05 trillion in the last fiscal year due to booking more external development loans and eleventh-hour releases by budget controllers. The development marked an anticlimax for the planning ministry's efforts to fully utilise the revised allocation of Rs1.1 trillion and the finance ministry's tactics to slow fund releases, including partially shutting down systems by the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR). For the first time in Pakistan's history, the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) spending rose to Rs1.046 trillion in fiscal year 2024-25, said Ahsan Iqbal while addressing a press conference. Last week, the planning minister had confirmed to The Express Tribune that the PSDP spending remained at Rs905 billion due to slower releases by the AGPR office. After the close of fiscal year on June 30, the finance ministry provisionally assessed that it had managed to achieve the primary budget surplus target agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A planning ministry's report showed that it booked spending of another Rs141 billion from July 2 to 9, which pushed total expenses to Rs1.046 trillion. In yet another record, the government showed spending of Rs449 billion, or 43% of the total, in June alone. The planning minister said that the addition of Rs141 billion in one week was because of booking Rs80 billion in more foreign loans and further releases by the AGPR. After this, the total foreign loans for the PSDP increased to Rs237.4 billion. The planning ministry official said that the AGPR had shut the system used to book the spending claims. He said that the system was shut down to make sure that the IMF's primary budget surplus target was achieved. He added that on the intervention of the PM Office, the system was opened and more funds were released. To a question, PIDE University Vice Chancellor Dr Nadeem Javaid said that by limiting development spending to Rs905 billion, the finance ministry was trying to show an overall budget deficit at 5.6% of GDP against the target of 5.9%. He said that the higher spending of Rs1.046 trillion would not impact the primary budget surplus target. The planning minister said that one of the reasons behind booking massive spending in June was the wrong budget strategy, which had an "in-built bias" against utilisation by linking 40% of PSDP spending with the last quarter of the fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday released the development budget strategy for fiscal year 2025-26, which again highlighted the release of 40% budget in the last quarter. Funds for the development budget shall be authorised by the Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Division out of the PSDP allocation for FY26 for approved projects at 15% for Q1, 20% for Q2, 25% for Q3 and 40% for Q4, according to the finance ministry. "Notwithstanding anything contained in this strategy, all releases shall be subject to availability of fiscal space," stated the strategy, which again put a question mark over whether the Rs1 trillion budget for the new fiscal year would be given or not. Ahsan Iqbal said that the planning ministry would take up the matter with the finance ministry and would urge it to equally distribute funds instead of 40% spending in the last quarter. The back-end fund releases create artificial budget surpluses in the first three quarters, which evaporate in the last quarter. The minister said that the additional expenses of Rs141 billion helped create fiscal space for projects in this fiscal year. He said that the water sector's entire allocation of Rs194 billion was utilised because of eleventh-hour releases. Likewise, Suparco, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the power ministry also fully utilised their development budgets. Planning Commission Chief Economist Dr Imtiaz Ahmad also released the monthly development update for June. The report showed that last month 33 projects worth Rs90.4 billion were approved and 19 projects totaling Rs1.4 trillion were recommended to Ecnec. Major investments were targeted in the energy sector, where over Rs500 billion worth of projects were approved, followed by Rs395 billion worth of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway Eastbay Expressway costing Rs301 billion. These initiatives are expected to generate 9,986 direct and 47,174 indirect jobs, according to the report. As a direct outcome of these initiatives, 5,074 formal posts will be established immediately during the project execution period. According to the provisional figures, the government spent Rs63.6 billion on parliamentarians' schemes in the last fiscal year. The spending was more than the downward-revised budget. But Iqbal said that after initially deciding to revise the budget downwards, the government decided to retain the original allocation of Rs75 billion for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme. The parliamentarians' schemes are branded as SDG initiatives. Another Rs82 billion was spent on provincial projects, which are funded by the federal government. A week ago, the provincial spending was shown at Rs69 billion. The financing of provincial schemes is against the commitments given to the IMF and the National Fiscal Pact. About Rs70 billion was spent on schemes being executed in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas, now merged with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Spending on higher education remained at Rs59.6 billion. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission received its full budget of Rs25 billion, but for this fiscal year, the government has drastically cut its allocation. Development spending by the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) remained at Rs41 billion. The government spent Rs194 billion on projects of the Ministry of Water Resources, Rs40 billion more than shown a week ago. For this fiscal year, the government has reduced the water sector allocation by 28%.
Express Tribune
03-07-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt misses development target
Listen to article The government spent Rs905 billion on development schemes in the last fiscal year, which was lower than the allocation and may now require a downward revision in the 2.7% economic growth rate that had been worked out on the basis of Rs1.1 trillion in expenses. Of the Rs905 billion, a little over half — or Rs456 billion — was spent during the last two months (May-June), also underscoring the need to revisit the current budget strategy that artificially suppresses expenses. According to provisional figures, the federal government spent Rs905 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the fiscal year 2024-25, which ended on Monday. The Rs905 billion spending was less than the Rs1.4 trillion original budget approved by the National Assembly for the fiscal year 2024-25. However, the government subsequently cut the PSDP to Rs1.1 trillion, but still, the actual spending remained lower than the revised budget. For the last fiscal year, the government had announced a 2.7% economic growth rate, which was based on the assumption that the downward-revised Rs1.1 trillion PSDP would be fully spent. In a press briefing last month, the Chief Statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Dr Naeemuz Zafar, confirmed that the GDP figure assumed that the Rs1.1 trillion would be spent. An official of the PBS said on Wednesday that after the actual Rs905 billion spending, there will be some impact on economic growth calculations. He said the exact impact could not be immediately determined. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal said, "We had almost touched the Rs1 trillion spending mark, but due to slow approvals by the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR), the spending remained at Rs905 billion." Sources said the Ministry of Finance had instructed the department of the AGPR to slow down releases during the last days of June to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF)-related budget targets. According to the current budget release strategy, about 40% of the total budget was sanctioned in the last quarter, which often results in subpar expenses and may also cause leakages. A member of the Senate, who is also in the construction business, told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the AGPR did not clear contractors' cheques due to budget-related constraints. During the July-April period of the last fiscal year, the government had spent Rs449 billion. But in the past two months, another Rs456 billion was booked under development spending. In June alone, Rs308 billion in development spending was shown. However, the planning minister said that development work did not stop in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and that it was only the money that was released and booked during May-June. For the sake of the IMF programme, the finance ministry squeezed the PSDP to achieve quarterly and annual primary surplus targets. A recently released planning ministry report stated that lower-than-planned spending had impacted projects across various sectors. Despite thin fiscal space, the government was still adding either new projects or upwardly revising the cost of already approved schemes. Major spending heads According to the provisional figures, the government spent Rs60.5 billion on parliamentarians' schemes in the last fiscal year. The spending was more than the downward-revised budget. But Iqbal said that after initially deciding to revise the budget downward, the government decided to retain the original allocation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme. The parliamentarians' schemes are branded as SDG initiatives. Another Rs69.5 billion was spent on provincial projects, which are funded by the federal government. Financing provincial schemes is against the commitments given to the IMF and the National Fiscal Pact. About Rs64 billion was spent on schemes being executed in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas, now merged with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Against a downward allocation of Rs61 billion, spending on higher education remained at Rs58.8 billion. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission received its full Rs25 billion budget, but for this fiscal year, the government has drastically cut its allocation. Development spending by the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) remained at Rs30.4 billion against the allocation of Rs41 billion. The government spent Rs154 billion on projects of the Ministry of Water Resources, which also include spending on two major dams. The allocation was Rs195 billion. For this fiscal year, the government has reduced the water sector allocation by 28%. Spending on motorways and highways under the National Highway Authority amounted to Rs144 billion, against the Rs161 billion allocation. Development spending on power sector projects stood at Rs88 billion, as against the Rs98 billion allocation.
Business Recorder
22-04-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Authorised by AGPR: CPPA-G receives Rs148.75bn from SBP on TDS account
ISLAMABAD: The Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guaranteed (CPPA-G) is said to have received Rs 148.75 billion from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on account of Tariff Differential Subsidies (TDS) authorized by the Accountant General of Pakistan (AGPR) under different heads for the fiscal year 2024-25. On March 28, 2025, the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue had issued authorizations to the SBP, Islamabad branch to release the authorized amounts to CPPA-G after fulfillment of all codal formalities. According to official documents, Rs 12.745 billion are related to payment of subsidy to CPPA-G on account of subsidies for Inter-Disco tariff differential for FY 2024-25, already earmarked in the federal budget 2024-25. Govt requests Nepra to reduce power tariffs by Rs1.71/unit An amount of Rs 2.281 billion has been disbursed in the account of CPPA-G on account of subsidy for merged district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (former-Fata) for FY 2024-25. An amount of Rs 12.123 billion has been released as subsidy to CPPA-G on account of subsidies to AJK for tariff differential for FY 2024-25. An amount of Rs 8.863 billion has been disbursed to CPPA-G on account of subsidies to AJK for tariff differential for FY 2024-25 as advance subsides duly approved by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on June 21, 2023. The AGPR has also released Rs 399 million to CPPA-G on account of Rs subsidies for tariff differential to agri tubewells in Balochistan for FY 2024-25. And an amount of Rs 457 million has been disbursed to CPPA-G on account of subsidies for tariff differential to agri-tubewells in Balochistan. Rupees 115 billion has been disbursed in the account of CPPA-G under the head of settlement of payables to Government owned Power Plants (GPPs) for the FY 2024-25. The AGPR has also released an amount of Rs 3.007 billion to CPPA-G on account of subsidies for merged districts of KP erstwhile Fata for FY 2024-25. The funds have been made against budgetary allocation in Grant No.O33 Cost Centre/IB 9049-Subsidy for merged District of KP erstwhile Fata. Subsequent utilization of funds from this account shall be subject to fulfillment of codal formalities, rules and regulations and procedures. In addition, the AGPR has also released an amount of Rs 4 billion to be paid to the Chinese Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as per the agreement reached with the Chinese government aimed at releasing Rs 4 billion every month to the Chinese power plants. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
15-02-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
AGP compiles updated data of employees
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Friday that the Accountant General of Pakistan (AGP) Revenues (AGPR) updated all records of federal government employees on the System Application Product (SAP) system with unique personnel numbers. Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Saad Waseem Sheikh, while responding to a question, said that all key events, including appointments, promotions, upgradations, transfers, retirements, revisions of pay and allowances, and service verifications, were recorded in the SAP system. He highlighted that the AGPR currently managed updated records for 79,380 employees.
