Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed relevant secretaries to ensure the implementation and monitoring of the government’s announced austerity measures and submit daily reports to the review committee. He was chairing a meeting to assess government’s austerity measures in Islamabad today. The Prime Minister also directed that the ban on foreign visits of the government officers, federal ministers, and ministers of state and special assistants would remain in force. The meeting decided that funds generated from government austerity measures will be used for public relief. It was decided in the meeting that like government employees, there will be a five to thirty percent cut in the salaries of employees of State-owned enterprises and autonomous departments under government supervision. The meeting also decided that government representatives in the boards of corporations and other departments will not take a fee to participate in the board meeting and this fee will be included in the savings. The meeting decided that the four-day working per week will not be applicable to law enforcement agencies and the FBR, and they will perform their duties as per past routine. It was decided that a third-party audit will be conducted regarding the fifty percent reduction in fuel allocation for official vehicles and the grounding of sixty percent of government vehicles over the next two months. During the meeting, briefing was given on the implementation of the government’s complete ban on the purchase of new vehicles and other government purchases.
PM Orders Implementation of Government’s Austerity Measures
