ISLAMABAD (PEN) : The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has raised serious concerns about the country’s financial management, revealing a troubling reality: less than 4% of Pakistan’s Rs38.67 trillion budget is dedicated to socio-economic services. This revelation underscores a broader issue of misallocation and inefficiency.
According to Dawn, the AGP’s annual audit report for 2023-24 highlights that a staggering 93% of supplementary grants—totaling over Rs8 trillion—were disbursed without parliamentary approval and went unspent. This situation not only represents a significant waste of public funds but also underscores a lack of oversight and accountability.
The audit identifies several critical issues within the federal government’s financial management during the fiscal year 2022-23. These include the unnecessary allocation of supplementary grants, ineffective budget management, and the failure to return unspent funds in a timely manner. These problems reflect a broader pattern of mismanagement that hampers effective governance.
A pressing concern raised by the AGP is the rising cost of debt servicing, which is severely constraining the government’s ability to invest in essential socio-economic services. For the fiscal year 2022-23, debt servicing consumed approximately Rs25 trillion, or 84% of the total expenditure of Rs29.6 trillion. This burden has only grown, with debt servicing reaching Rs34 trillion, or 91.4% of the Rs38.67 trillion budget, in FY23.
The AGP’s report, which is presented to the president and parliament, is meant to prompt necessary corrective actions, recoveries, or regularizations. It reveals that in FY23, a staggering 96.26% of the budget was allocated to general public services, including debt servicing, defense, and civil government expenses. This left only 3.74% for socio-economic functions— a dramatic drop from the previous year’s allocation of 16.07%.
Moreover, the report highlights that nearly 93% of supplementary grants, amounting to Rs8.049 trillion, were issued without parliamentary approval during FY23. It also notes a concerning increase in domestic floating and permanent debts, which rose to Rs25.17 trillion and Rs7.29 trillion, respectively, compared to the previous year.
In the fiscal year 2022-23, the federal government repaid Rs22.63 trillion in floating domestic debt, Rs2.46 trillion in permanent domestic debt, and Rs3.24 trillion in foreign debt. These findings underscore an urgent need for improved financial management to ensure that a greater portion of the national budget is directed toward vital socio-economic services, ultimately benefiting the lives of ordinary citizens.
