Ahsan Iqbal says only 56% of PSDP money have been used.

Only Rs130 billion of the Rs224.5 billion the government authorised for the period of July to November was actually spent.

ISLAMABAD: Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, examined the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2022–23’s second quarter on Thursday and found that just 56% of the authorised money had been used.

The minister urged the ministries to make sure the money were used, saying, “Those projects which are in advanced stages and have poor utilisation should be capped and priority should be given to essential projects near to completion.”

Iqbal further added that, keeping in view the constrained budget and release strategy, priority should be assigned to those projects that are strategic and near completion.

“The development budget has decreased from Rs1000 billion to Rs727 billion during the last four years. For the first time in history, the previous government did not release the final quarterly instalment for the development budget,” said the minister.

The government authorised the use of Rs 224.5 billion in five months (July-November) from a total allocation of Rs 727 billion under PSDP 2022-23, according to the most recent statistics made public by the Planning Ministry. But only 130 billion rupees of the authorised amount was actually spent by the ministries and divisions during the examined period.