Pakistan’s Finance Division on Saturday denied reports about the government issuing instructions to stop pension and salary payments. According to Dawn, the division stated that the reports were false.
The clarifications by the Finance Division came after The News International reported that the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) had been told by the Finance Ministry to “stop clearing all federal ministries and attached departments’ bills until further orders,” Dawn newspaper reported.
“Even the clearance of salary bills has also been stopped,” claimed the report, which quoted “top official sources” as saying that “operational cost-related releases faced difficulties mainly because of lingering financial difficulties being faced by the country.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Finance Division denied the story, saying, “There are rumours circulating that the government has instructed to stop payment of pay, pension, etc. “This is completely false, as no such instructions have been given by the Finance Division, which is the concerned federal ministry.”
It added that the accountant general of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) has “confirmed that pay and pension have already been processed and will be paid on time.” The press release further said that other payments were also being processed as per routine.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the “fake news” was being spread to “cause harm to the national economic interests,” Dawn reported. “Kindly refrain from circulating such reports and news without verifying them with the concerned ministry,” he urged the people.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently asked his ministers and advisers to let go of their salaries, benefits, and luxury cars and fly economy class as part of an austerity drive aimed at saving the government Pakistani Rupee (PKR) 200 billion a year, the Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.
According to Dawn, the belt-tightening comes as the government is trying to resume a stalled loan programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure funds worth USD 1 billion
