Federal Minister of Finance Mohammad Aurangzeb has announced to eliminate 60% of vacant posts in government ministries and departments under right sizing, which is one and a half lakh. Institutions will be abolished, 28 departments and institutions will either be abolished, privatized or transferred to provinces, in the Ministry of Defense and Judiciary. There will also be downsizing.
Addressing the press conference on Tuesday, the federal minister said that 43 ministries and 400 institutions are being reviewed, the expenditure of which is 876 billion rupees in the current budget, unnecessary institutions will be phased out.
In the first phase, Capital Administration Division has been abolished. The Ministry of Kashmir will integrate GB, SAFRAN, Information and Broadcasting and Cultural Heritage. In the second phase, 25 of the 60 sub-institutions of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Commerce Division, Housing and Works and National Food Security will be abolished, 20 will be reduced and 9 will be merged. The posts of finance, sweepers, mechanics, plumbing will be outsourced so that To improve performance, steps will be taken to reduce content-like posts.
The Finance Minister said that the Civil Servants Act, 1973 would need to be amended to abolish the posts of grades 17 to 22. The Cabinet Committee on Legislation has approved the draft for this. Under the IMF program, the right-sizing work will be completed by June. The government is trying to increase the efficiency of the government institutions by right sizing. The finance minister said that the government’s job is to give policy, the job of the private sector is to give jobs, the effort is to phase out unnecessary institutions.
He said that for a long time, work has been going on with various organizations for right sizing. In June last year, the Prime Minister had set up a Committee on Right Sizing, committed to reducing the size of federal government spending. Developing technology to document the economy. Reforms in FBR are being carried forward, Udan Pakistan program will help to achieve sustainable development, Alhamdulillah economy is moving in a positive direction. Our effort is to reduce government expenditure and lead the economy towards sustainable development, structure in tax system. Economic reforms have been ongoing since December, the private sector has to play a role for economic development.
He said that during the first six to seven months, attention has been paid to macroeconomic stability, at present we are in a very positive position economically, basically changing the DNA of the economy, exports to the national economy. To lead to growth based on digitalization, full digitization and faceless technology is in progress.
He said that the Prime Minister will inaugurate tomorrow in Karachi related to technology, I want more efficiency to be shared than the plan. It is imperative to reduce your expenses along with taxes.
The Finance Minister said that the Prime Minister had formed a committee in June last year, which includes MNEs and high-level leadership. According to the committee’s TORs, it was to focus on cost reduction, look at the efficiency and effectiveness of the institutions, right-sizing was to be done on this scale, the committee had powers to review 43 ministries, the federal government on these ministries. 900 billion is spent, everything is left in the effort to collect everything. So it has been seen step by step. In each phase, five ministries and subordinate institutions have been brought forward. The key leadership of the subordinate institutions have also been brought into the committee. Many hours of consultation took place and after that a decision was made, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet approved the elimination of 60% vacant regular posts. Now the phase of implementation of these decisions has been started.
He said that in the last six, seven months, our focus has been on stabilizing the country’s economy, Pakistan’s economy is in a better condition, all our goals are going in the right direction, a foundation has been laid for sustainable growth, efforts are being made. We want to get out of the boom and bust cycle, now our focus is on export-led growth, structural reforms are underway, taxation system is being worked on, end-to-end digitalization and technology in FBR. Transformation is in progress, custom Faceless interaction system has been implemented in India, Prime Minister will inaugurate it tomorrow.
The finance minister said that we want to reduce the size of the federal government, as a result of these measures, there will be good effects on the budget, our debt repayment has improved, for the first time, the implementation of pension reforms has started, which will gradually It will improve.
On this occasion, Bilal Azhar Kayani, a member of the Cabinet Committee for Right Sizing, said that the size of many federal institutions is high. To add, the Prime Minister is overseeing the entire process. All posts from Grade 1 to 22 will be reviewed for downsizing.
