CUTTING non-development expenditure and adopting aus
terity measures is need of the hour in view of the challenge posed by Covid-19 so that the money saved could be spent on vulnerable groups and more resources could be diverted to the development side in order to trigger the economic activity. Budget 2020-21 was also presented with the same intent in mind.
President Arif Alvi has taken the lead in that endeavour as the overall budget of the presidency has been cut by about sixty percent. The total budget of the President House was Rs 992 million for the outgoing fiscal year but the President has reduced it by Rs 597 million for 2020-21 and the reduction has been shown in personal expenditure of the President along with cuts in allowances of the human resources working there. A major cut has been made in the operating expenditure of the presidency to Rs53.38 million, which was Rs180.44 million in the fiscal 2019-20. A significant reduction has been made in the repair and maintenance expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year at Rs3.86 million as compared to Rs21.09 million in the outgoing year. Then it also appears that President Alvi is not taking any salary, as there is no mention of this head in the budget book along with other expenditure. Such kind of posture is required at the top level when the country is grappled with difficult economic situation. This sends a very strong message at the grassroots level. As regards President Alvi, he has always shown seriousness and maturity on important matters. Ahead of Ramadan, he played a very instrumental role vis-à-vis the development of SOPs for mosques after talks with the religious scholars of different schools of thought. The same kind of commitment is also expected from the Cabinet of PM Imran Khan to send the message that they mean business to steer the country out of dire straits. Whilst cutting their expenditure, they need to keep focus on the developmental projects to achieve the ambitious targets set for the next fiscal year.
