Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, announced that overall PSDP spending in 2020-21 was Rs 659 billion, compared to Rs 650 billion in allocations, or 101.4 percent, making it the greatest usage since 2011-12.
Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, tweeted, “Total PSDP spending in 2020-21 was Rs 659 billion vs a goal of Rs 650 billion or 101.4 percent.”
He went on to say that this is the highest use of development funding since 2011-12. “This extraordinarily high development spending underscores PMIK’s ambition to accelerate expansion in a year of Covid restrictions,” he added. However, in the final month of fiscal 2020-21, the government spent Rs 238 billion.
The scribe was told by a source in the commission that there were two key reasons for the increased expenditure on the developmental budget in fiscal 2020-21. One cause was the use of foreign aid, which was about 29% more than the PSDP 2020-21 budget; second, extensive modifications were made, and unutilized money were moved from one ministry or division to another.
According to the source, the planning commission usually re-allocates funding from one ministry’s or divisions slow-moving project to another ministry’s or divisions fast-moving project. However, as a result of the adjustments, funds are being transferred from one ministry’s or divisions slow-moving initiatives to the fast-moving programmes of other ministries and divisions. This was done to demonstrate a higher level of utilisation, according to the source.
In 2018-19, the expenditure was Rs 562 billion against a budget of Rs 675 billion, while in 2019-20, the expenditure was Rs 622 billion against a budget of Rs 701 billion.
