February 1: The government has decided to cut unnecessary expenses to narrow the growing gap between income and expenditure of the government. The government has come up with an idea to cut off regular spending in an attempt to keep a balance in public finance, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said.

In this regard, the ministry has decided to cut off recurrent expenses as part of its austerity measure. With the implementation of the decision, a total of Rs 10.5 billion would be saved, reads a press statement issued by the MoF on Tuesday.    
The ministry has decided to increase spending in the national pride and game changer projects, and those substantially contributing to the creation of jobs by re-prioritizing budget expenditure system.    
According to the ministry, the government has decided to slash 20 percent budget approved for headings including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office materials, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service and consultancy incurred  by all the ministries and agencies of the federal government,   
Likewise, budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, programme cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent, the ministry said.    
The ministry has also decided to proceed with the procurement process of the projects approved in budget without the consent of the MoF if the procurement process of those projects hasn’t started yet.

The ministry has also decided not to undertake any survey if it creates new vacancies. It has also decided not to open any new vacant posts and deploy employees exceeding the vacancy quota. If there is a need to deploy any new employ, the ministry has given the approval to take the process ahead by creating temporary posts.

The ministry has also decided to suspend all seminars, meetings and workshops that causes financial burden to the state coffers.  
Likewise, any government official attending programmes in a foreign trip with public money must seek approval from the MoF.

The ministry has also decided not to budget transfer from one heading to another.

The ministry has decided to stop execution of budgetary projects and programmes which are yet to start and not to create extra burden of payment in the current fiscal year. The decision is applicable to all universities, foundation/academy, regulatory bodies, boards and all constitutional bodies.    
The ministry has also decided to instruct the province and local governments to reduce expenditure, excluding mandatory obligations under the recurrent heading by 20 percent.