Islamabad:
Pakistan has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of its plan to dismiss surplus employees by offering them a golden handshake, because a low income performance has become a major concern for the end of talks.
The world lender has also questioned the rationality of the ministries of restraint in the fields which, under the Constitution, are provincial subjects, said that government sources during the discussions.
During this week, the emphasis remained on the fiscal perception and the prospects of the Federal Board of Return, the size of the government and, more importantly, the fate of the sovereign heritage fund, which must be aligned with the prescription of the IMF.
The sources said that low tax revenue appeared as a major concern for the end of talks after the IMF did not accept the FBR projections to fill the income deficit for the rest of the exercise. The Ministry of Finance also rushed to the drawing board to discover areas where expenses can be cut to satisfy the IMF.
One of the meetings held on Tuesday did not go well and after the FBR and the Ministry of Finance began to redo the figures, in particular by finding the potential sources of savings to compensate for the income deficit. The ministry may have to abandon its emergency fund, reduce certain non -productive expenses. He also examined the accounting of the surplus of the primary budget, the sources said.
The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, also held a session with the head of the IMF mission on Wednesday. The discussions focused on the new tax objective for the FBR for the current exercise.
The authorities hoped that small differences on income projections and potential savings would be settled today (Thursday).
Golden handshake
The sources have indicated that the firm’s division gave an IMF a briefing on actions, which are necessary to reduce the size of the government. Under the $ 7 billion package, the government had to “share with IMF staff a report detailing actions to reduce the federal government’s footprint”.
The IMF was informed that the government planned to modify the 1973 law on civil servants, which protects against entrenchments, in order to dismiss the excess and officers. The fund has currently been informed that no employees can be returned home due to legal protections under the civil servant law.
The plan, if it was implemented, would end the current practice of keeping wooded up to their retirement pension age. This can also help align the civilian bureaucracy structure with the military where the best are preserved.
During a briefing on the government’s current will to reduce the size of the civilian machinery, it was revealed that total economies by removing vacant and fusion positions or in terms of 10 small departments were hardly 17 billion rupees.
The amount of savings is not important in relation to the major allegations of the government of implementation of the rights – an initiative which was also pierced last week when new units were created and the ministries were divided to welcome the new battalion of ministers, ministers of state, advisers and special assistants to the Prime Minister.
The sources indicated that the IMF had questioned the Pakistani authorities about the need to have ministries in the fields which, under the Constitution, are the provincial subjects. There are many ministries that fall into the provincial field such as the Federal Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Health.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed ministers and ministers of the state, bearing the size of his cabinet to more than 50 during the recent expansion training. There are three people responsible for the Ministry of the Interior or Internal Affairs. The Federal Minister of the Interior is Mohin Naqvi, the internal affairs advisor with the status of the federal minister is the little -known PTI Pervaiz Khattak and Senator Talal Chaudhry is the Minister of State in the Interior.
Likewise, there is a Federal Minister of Health and the Minister of State for Health.
The government has informed the IMF of its plan to abolish thousands of vacant positions from the 1st to 22nd year to save more than 12 billion rupees. These include nearly 700 positions from 17 to 22nd year, which would save around 2.5 billion rupees and abolish thousands of small -scale positions to save 10 billion rupees.
The IMF said the federal government should also consider transferring excess employees to the provinces. The question of overvocation in the public sector development program was also underlined during the meeting
The government informed the IMF that he had merged, transferred or closed a dozen organizations, which will save 5 billion rupees.
Some of the organizations, which have been closed, include the organization of refugees in Jammu-et-Cachemire refugees. The IMF was informed that Pakistan also restricted the organization of Afghan refugees in chief. The government has already started the process to repatriate Afghan refugees and gave a deadline of March 31 to those with Afghan citizen cards.
It was also decided to merge three entities doing the same job and to form a new authority. Special economic zones, the Special Technology Authority zones and the offices of export processing areas will be merged into the National Industrial Development Regulatory Authority.
The authority for transplanting human organs was merged with Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority. The National Trust for the well-being of the population has been closed while the third cycle hospital in Sheikh Zayed is transferred to the Punjab government.
The government also planned to move the Pakistan Institute of Medical Science (PIMS) hospital to the Capital Territory of Islamabad, sources said. The government has also decided to close the National Engrtilizer Corporation and the national productivity organization.
The government has merged the ministries of the States and Border regions and the Ministry of Cashmere and Gilgit-Baltistan Affairs.
He presented the aviation division to the Ministry of Defense, but created a new public affairs unit and appointed Rana Mubashhir Iqbal as a federal minister and Abdul Rehman Kanju as Minister of State.
