Cut in salaries and pensions, government announced

Cut in salaries and pensions, government announced

The government has announced the establishment of a new committee to cut government expenditure including salaries and pensions. The committee's jurisdiction does not include the defense budget and interest expenses, which account for two-thirds of the total federal budget. The revision will consider rationalizing expenditure on pensions and development, which is unlikely to lead to major savings.

In the 7-member committee established under the direction of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Vice Chairman Planning Commission Dr. Jahanzeb, Cabinet Division, Treasury and Industry Secretaries will be government representatives while Dr. Qaiser Bengali, Dr. Farrukh Saleem and Naveed Iftikhar will be independent members. Dr Qaiser Bengali, a member of the committee, has been vocal for a long time in support of eliminating non-military expenditure from the defense budget and closing unnecessary cantonments.

According to the sources, the prime minister has given the committee a week to formulate recommendations related to the reduction of government expenditure. The revision of the pension scheme is an important issue in the review talks with the IMF starting from March 14. The committee is the size of the federal government. It will also review the reports of all the first committees for reduction.

According to the notification, despite the transfer of powers to the provinces, about a dozen ministries are still active at the federal level. 714 billion for the government, 900 billion for development projects, 801 billion for pension, in which the share of military pension is 563 billion or 70 percent.