control commission that oversees its implementation savings measures has expressed serious concern over the use of vehicles above 1,800 cc by some officers and directed all authorities to immediately stop the use of all such vehicles, government officials said Radio Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had asked ministers and advisers last month flying economy class and giving up luxury cars and their salaries As part of an austerity measure that will save the government 200 billion rupees ($766 million) a year.
The belt-tightening comes after balance-of-payments crisis-hit Islamabad scrapped an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide $1 billion in unexpected funds since late last year over policy issues.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen below covering a month’s imports and the announced spending cuts are part of an effort to stave off an economic downturn.
A committee chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar reviewed the implementation of the decisions of its first meeting on implementation of austerity measures in Islamabad on Monday.
At the meeting, the state of use of luxury cars was updated, and it was reported that most of the allocated cars were returned by members of the Cabinet of Ministers.
At the forum, concerns were expressed about the non-return of the remaining expensive cars, and the Cabinet of Ministers instructed to fully implement this decision and return the expensive cars within three days.
The issue of refusing to use safety equipment was also discussed at the meeting, and a decision was made to implement the decision in word and spirit.
The Ministry of Law and Justice was instructed to approach the higher judiciary with a proposal to introduce cost-saving measures in the judicial system and to address the Senate Chairman and the Chairman of the National Assembly on the issue of using telebridges in all sessions to save time and money.
The meeting also said that the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination is proposing similar austerity measures to provincial governments.
The committee also discussed the working hours and decided that the new office working hours will be 7:30 am to 2:30 pm and 12:30 pm on Fridays starting from the first day of Ramadan and will be maintained during the summer season. according to the decision of the cabinet.
A message will be sent accordingly.
Speaking on the occasion, the Finance Minister instructed everyone to speed up the implementation of austerity measures with true and sincere spirit without any exception.
