Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a series of austerity measures on Monday to mitigate the economic impact of the Middle East conflict, including cuts to government fuel allowances, salaries, departmental expenses and restrictions on official travel, while promoting work-from-home policies and online education.
He said that for the next two months, the fuel allowance of official vehicles would be cut by 50 per cent and 60 per cent of all government vehicles will be stopped. He further said that for the next two months, the federal cabinet would forgo its salary and salary of parliamentarians would be cut by 50 per cent.
Moreover, two day salary of BS-20 government officials, who earned more than PAK Rs 300,000, would be used for the people. The Pak PM said that the expenses of government departments would also be reduced by 20 per cent. He said that there will be a ban on purchasing vehicles, furniture and air conditioners for government departments.
Further, a ban has been imposed on foreign trips of ministers, advisers and government officials “apart from those that are essential for the country’s interests”. Sharif said that to reduce government expenses, seminars and conferences would be hosted on government premises instead of hotels.
PM Shehbaz said that to conserve fuel, decisions had also been taken for the public and private sectors. He said that apart from essential services, staff would work from home 50 per cent of the time. He said that offices would only open four days a week. “However, this will not apply to banks,” he said. He said that all schools would also have two holidays and all higher educational institutions would begin online classes.
