Govt has abolished 150,000 vacancies, says finance minister

Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that in order to cut down its expenditures and improve its performance, the government had done away with 150,000 vacancies in different departments after federal cabinet’s approval, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.  

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister said that 60 per cent vacancies had been lumped together. “Similarly, 80 departments affiliated with six ministries will be reduced to 40 by merging them into one another,” he explained. 

Elaborating further, he said that in the first phase, the Ministry of Information and that of Lok Virsa would be amalgamated into each other. “Later, the ministries of Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and SAFRON will be made one.”

Aurangzeb said that the Ministry of Finance would keep an eye on the cash balances of all departments. "It has also been decided to abolish the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD)."

“Right now the expenditures stand at Rs900 million,” he informed.

He said the country’s economy was now moving on the right track. 

He added the government had increased the pace of the introduction of reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). “The FBR is now heading towards digitalization.”

The minister told the media representatives that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would inaugurate a ‘faceless system’ at the Pakistan Customs office tomorrow (Wednesday). 

Aurangzeb said that the prime minister had constituted a committee in June last year to reduce the government’s size. “The size will be reduced in stages. In each phase, five to six ministries will be done away with,” he elaborated.

The minister informed that in this connection consultations were held with each and every ministry officials for details. “There are 400 departments attached to 43 ministries,” he said.  

He expressed the hope that the ‘Urran Pakistan’ programme would prove helpful in achieving durable development of the country.

He went on to say the purpose of rightsizing was to increase the capacity of different government departments.

Furthermore, he said, technology was being used to document the economy.