ISLAMABAD: The government has used 40.6% or Rs42.3 billion less development spending than allocated in the budget during first quarter (July-September) of current fiscal year 2014-15.
According to sources in Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, the government spent Rs62.3 billion out of the annual development budget of Rs525 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
As per the finance ministry’s spending strategy, the federal government should spend 20 per cent of the annual budget in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance has already reiterated these instructions in a notification issued in July this year.
Sources said that the government, keeping in view that it could not rein in current expenditures and achieve tax revenues target, had cut development spending to remain within the budget deficit ceiling that it agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It is pertinent to mention here that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs549 billion from July to September against the target of Rs569 billion.
