Government’s Austerity Campaign Exposed by SSB:

Federal Government spends over $2m on publicity, press clubs

Despite announcing an austerity campaign, the Federal Government has reportedly spent nearly $51,764 on publicity campaigns during the current fiscal year without Parliament’s approval, in addition to $1.294 million in payments to press clubs and other journalists’ organizations.

These revelations were unearthed during the Supplementary Spending Bill (SSB) submitted by the Finance Ministry from the outgoing fiscal year ending on June 30, 2011, which reveals significant cost over-runs by the Federal Government.

The supplementary authorizations are a request made by the Finance Ministry to approve expenses that have already occurred but had not been authorized by the parliament in the budget bill for 2011.

Other items listed on the spending bill include $152,941 for the purchase of seven cars in the Prime Minister’s Motorcade, and $1.288m in grants to various press clubs around the country as well as the All Pakistan Newspapers’ Society (APNS).

While the amount comes to less than 0.2 per cent of the total budget deficit of $13.2bn, the unauthorized payments for non-essential items speaks volumes about the scale of the government’s austerity drive and brings it into question.

While the amount comes to less than 0.2 per cent of the total budget deficit of $13.2bn, the unauthorized payments for non-essential items speaks volumes about the scale of the government’s austerity drive and brings it into question.