Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Ayesha Ghous Pasha said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will announce major austerity measures in all the government institutions to control the fiscal deficit. "The prime minister has already formed a commission to finalise the austerity measures and he himself would announce the recommendations finalised by the body," the state minister said while speaking in the Senate.

She said all the cabinet members of the federal government had already voluntarily announced that they would not get their salaries from the national exchequer. Ms Pasha said the government was acting upon the agreement, struck by the previous dispensation with the International Monetary Fund, only to save the country.

Referring to the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023 presented by the government in both the houses of parliament, she said the government had no option but to take tough decisions as the country's economy was on the verge of default. "No doubt inflation is high and the people are extremely worried. But the point is that this is the time to make structural adjustments because without this, we will sink in further darkness," she added.

However, she said to safeguard the extremely poor segments of the society from the inflationary shocks, the government had decided to raise the allocation for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) by Rs40 billion to Rs400 billion. The minister also made it clear that whether the government went with the IMF programme or not, it would have to make structural reforms in key areas of the economy.

The state minister of finance said that the recently increased tariffs in electricity and gas sectors would not apply to small consumers. She called upon all the political parties and other stakeholders to support the government in this hour of need as the country badly needed tough decisions to bring it out of economic crisis. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk