The Election Commission of Pakistan has apparently frustrated what looks like a shrewd PDM strategy to sweeten the ballot box – by slapping a ban on any fresh development spending.
By Muhammad Ali
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has moved to block a spending spree that the last elected government managed to sneak through the array of safeguards against the use of public funds to bribe the ballot box, Independent Pakistan can report.
Backed by the broad-based Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif doled out PKR 61 billion in discretionary funding to parliamentarians, ostensibly for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
All parliamentarians belonging to treasury benches were the beneficiaries of the largesse, which fell right through the cracks of the stringent fiscal regime enforced by the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The shrewd move came just ahead of the dissolution of the National Assembly, just in time to beat an anticipated ban on development spending by the ECP. It came at a time when scarcity of funds is hurting the Ministry of Planning itself, which outsourced sanitation services to a third party through PSDP Capacity Building Project, but lacks the funds to clear the monthly salaries of sanitation staff.
In any case, the ECP has instructed the ministries, divisions and departments not to execute or announce any development schemes at federal and provincial levels except those which are ongoing and approved before the issuance of this notification.
Moreover, the federal government, provincial and local governments shall not issue any tender of such schemes till the culmination of the general election and except with prior approval of the Commission.
This directive of the ECP has practically neutered the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) until the general election because no new schemes can be approved by these forums during this period.
Additionally, the ECP also slapped a ban on tendering of any fresh development schemes at all three tiers of the governments.
Under the circumstances, Pakistan will struggle to exhaust its earmarked development funds for the current fiscal year (FY 2023-24) if the general election faces a delay beyond the three-month limit following the delimitation of electoral constituencies based on the fresh population census approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
Under the funds release strategy of Ministry of Finance for development funds at the federal level, funds for Development Budget will be released by Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Division out of the PSDP allocation for approved projects at 15 percent for quarter one, 20 percent for quarter two, 25 percent for quarter three, and 40 percent for quarter four of the the fiscal year (FY 2023-24).
With this scheme, out of total allocated PSDP funding of PKR 950 billion, the government would release 15 percent funds equivalent to PKR 131 billion in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year.
The government approved Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) of PKR 20 billion against the surrendered amount of SDGs program for the last financial year 2022-23 and also released another PKR 41 billion for SAP program for the current financial year 2023-24.
The remaining amount of PKR 69.7 billion will be distributed among all development schemes of remaining ministries, divisions, and departments. Funds amounting to PKR 11.5 billion are further released in respect of the foreign exchange components of the schemes being undertaken during Q1.
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