ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has expedited the pace of expenditure for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) under its election strategy, with first quarter disbursements standing at about Rs61bn, or 26 percent, of the annual target, violating its own laid down limit of 20 percent.
According to a statement issued by the Planning Commission, total disbursement amounted to Rs65bn as of Oct 12, up from Rs61bn on Sept 30.
The first quarter disbursement for PSDP during the current fiscal year is over 50 percent higher than same period of last year when releases stood at Rs40bn.
Under the approved and notified criteria for PSDP releases, the commission has set a limit of 20 percent expenditure for development schemes in the first and second quarter of any fiscal year.
The procedure required the government to release 25 percent of the total PSDP allocation and 35 percent in the last quarter of the fiscal year.
The criteria was put in place after consultations keeping in mind past experiences given the fact that most development projects took time in start up stages and required more money in subsequent quarters for their completion.
It is ironic that the government in general and the planning commission in particular are violating their own policies and spending parameters.
“If you think more funds are required in early parts of the year, you need to change the rules instead of violating existing rules,” said a senior official of the commission.
The commission said on Saturday that it had released a total of Rs64.7bn as of Oct 12, including Rs36.2bn for infrastructure-related projects, Rs26.9bn for social sector projects and about Rs1.6bn for other schemes.
The commission is responsible for monitoring and disbursement of Rs233bn out of the federal PSDP.
Another Rs27bn worth of special projects, commonly known as People’s Works Programme, are separately being looked after by the cabinet division.
The division is also responsible for disbursements under such special projects, mostly on the directives of the prime minister’s secretariat.
A commission official said that political expediency was now dictating disbursement of funds for development schemes.
Internews
