Govt Looking to Cut Rs. 53 Billion from Prime Minister’s Development Budget

The federal government is reviewing the possibility of suspending Rs. 53 billion funds set aside for the Prime Minister’s initiatives under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2023-24. Sources told ProPakistani the proposal has been submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC) for approval. It is pertinent to mention here that Rs. 80 billion was set aside for nine projects under the PM’s initiatives. This included an allocation of Rs. 30 billion for the Solar Energy Transition Program of Agricultural Tube Wells. Key programs included Youth Skill Development, PM’s Youth Sports Initiative, Youth Program for Small Loans, Pakistan Fund for Education, IT Start-ups and Venture Capital support, Women Empowerment, Laptop Scheme, and Green Revolution 2.0. The caretaker government aims to transfer allocations for provincial nature projects under PM initiatives to the provinces themselves. Out of the total Rs. 80 billion, Rs. 60 billion was set out for provincial nature projects. The caretaker government plans to transfer six provincial environmental projects totaling Rs. 53 billion to the provinces. Notably, the total cost of these projects is estimated at Rs. 164.378 billion.