Islamabad:
Pakistan has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about his plan to dismiss excess employees by offering them golden handshake as the achievement of the weak revenue has emerged a large area of concern about the subjects.
The global lender has also questioned rationality by retaining ministries in areas that are provincial subjects under the Constitution said that the government sources are interested in the discussions.
During this week, the IMF’s focus remained in the Federal Board of Revenue’s tax collection and prospects, the size of the government, and more importantly by the fate of SOVERIGN Wealth Fund to be brought in line with the IMF’s prescription.
The sources said that weak tax revenue emerged as an important source of concern towards the end of the conversations after the IMF did not accept FBR’s projections to bridge the revenue deficit for the rest of the financial year. The Ministry of Finance also rushed to the drawing board to find out areas where expenses can be reduced to satisfy the IMF.
One of the meetings held on Tuesday did not go well, and then the FBR and the Ministry of Finance began to do about the numbers, including finding the potential sources of savings to offset the revenue deficit. The Ministry may need to surrender its Emergency Fund and reduce certain non-productive expenses. It also looked at the accounts of the primary budget surplus, the sources said.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb also held a session with the IMF Mission Chief on Wednesday. The discussions focused on the new tax target for FBR for the current financial year.
Authorities were hopeful that the small differences over the revenue projections and the potential savings would be sorted today (Thursday).
Golden handshake
The sources said the cabinet department gave a briefing to the IMF about the actions needed to reduce the size of the government. According to the $ 7 billion package, the government was obliged to “share with the IMF staff a report that detailed actions to reduce the federal government’s footprint”.
The IMF was told that the government was planning to change the law of officials 1973, which provides protection against dismissal to dismiss the surplus staff and the officers. The fund was currently told that no employees can be sent home because of the legal protection under the Officials Act.
The plan, if implemented, would end the current practice of preserving deadwoods until their super -decking age. It can also help adapt the civilian bureaucracy structure with the military, where the best-of-best is preserved.
During a briefing on the government’s current drive to reduce the size of civilian machines, it was revealed that the total savings from the abolition of vacancies and merging or settlement of approx. 10 small departments hardly were RS17 billion.
The amount of savings is not great compared to the government’s high allegations of implementing Rightsizing Drive – an initiative that was also punctured last week when new units were created and ministries were shared to meet the new battalion of ministers, prime ministers, advisers and special assistants to the prime minister.
The sources said the IMF questioned the Pakistani authorities about the need to have ministries within the domains, which under the Constitution are the provincial issues. There are many ministries that fall into the provincial domain such as the Federal Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Health.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed ministers and prime ministers and taken the size of his cabinet to over 50 during the recent expansion drive. There are three persons responsible for the Ministry of the Interior or domestic affairs. The Federal Interior Minister is Mohsin Naqvi, the advisor of domestic affairs with the status of federal minister is PTI dissatisfied Pervaiz Khattak, and Senator Talal Chaudhry is the prime minister of the domestic interior.
Likewise, there is a federal Minister of Health and Minister of Health Minister.
The government informed the IMF of its plan to abolish thousands of vacancies from class 1 to 22 to save over RS12 billion. These include nearly 700 class 17 to 22 positions, which would save about RS2.5 billion and abolish thousands of low payroll to save RS10 billion.
The IMF believed that the federal government should also consider transferring the surplus staff to the provinces. The question of overstance in the public sector development program was also highlighted at the meeting
The government stated the IMF that it had merged, transferred or closed about 10 organizations, which will save another RS5 billion.
Some of the organizations that are closed include Jammu & Kashmir Refuge’s rehabilitation organization. The IMF was told that Pakistan also restructured the supreme commissioner Afghan refugee organization. The government has already begun the process of repatriating the Afghan refugees and giving an on March 31 a deadline to those who have Afghan Citizen Card.
It is also decided to merge three units that perform the same job and form a new authority. The special economic zones, Special Technology Zones Authority and Export Processing Zones will be merged into the National Industrial Development Regulatory Authority.
The human bodies transplant authority has been merged with Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority. The national confidence in population has been closed while Sheikh Zayed Postgraduate Hospital is transferred to the Punjab government.
The government also planned to move the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital to Islamabad Capital Territory, the sources said. The government has also decided to close the National Gredilizer Corporation and National Productivity Organization.
The government has merged ministries for states and border areas and the Ministry of Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.
It has transferred the Aviation Department to the Ministry of Defense, but has established a new unit for public affairs and appointed Rana Mubashir Iqbal to federal minister and Abdul Rehman Kanju as prime minister.
