Pakistan to cut number of missions abroad under austerity measures

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has issued instructions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to slash down a number of foreign missions abroad and reduce their offices, staff, and other measures to cut down expenditures by 15 per cent.

“The Prime Minister is pleased to direct that a well-considered proposal/plan in this respect may please be submitted to this office within two weeks positively,” The News quoted a directive issued by the PMO as saying.

This official communication titled “Rationalisation of Foreign Mission Abroad” states that in view of the ongoing economic constraints and the consequent need for fiscal consolidation and control of external deficit, the Prime Minister was pleased to constitute a National Austerity Committee (NAC).

The committee has recommended, inter-alia, that the expenditure on Pakistan Missions abroad may be reduced by 15 per cent.

“This may be achieved by curtailing the number of Foreign Missions, reduction in the number of officers and staff posted there and other suitable measures,” it further stated.

There have been increasing frustrations among the political-cum-technocratic members of the federal cabinet for reluctance on the part of the government not to implement the recommendations given by the NAC which was constituted by the premier himself but so far no action got implemented, The News reported.

For instance, one federal minister consumes 1,000 liters of petrol on monthly basis. He possesses a luxurious vehicle and three other official cars, The News reported.

Another minister demonstrating austerity has written a letter to return a vehicle to the government and also made the letter public.

But he didn’t disclose that he had utilised his ministry’s limit on petrol just in a couple of months of the ongoing financial year.

There is another practice in the Federal Secretariat as hiring was being done in name of specialists, experts, and young fellows without consideration of actual requirements and well-defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The majority of bureaucrats is taking the monetisation of vehicles but is also using official cars and petrol through different heads, The News reported.