ISLAMABAD: Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar on Tuesday said that almost 90 per cent of the total supplementary demands for grants for FY20 were Covid-19 related expenditures.
Earlier it was reported that the PTI government had approved Rs544.8 billion in supplementary grants for FY20, which signified an increase of more than 145 per cent compared to supplementary grants of the previous fiscal year.
While responding to comments of members of opposition regarding supplementary grants in the National Assembly, Hammad Azhar informed the house that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government reduced the supplementary grants to Rs222 billion during the first year of its tenue compared to Rs600 billion in 2017-18 during Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz ‘s (PMLN) tenure.
He further informed that during 2017-18, when the PML-N government approved supplementary grants of Rs600 billion, there was no national disaster or Covid-19 like situation present in the country.
Responding to the opposition’s questions regarding the supplementary grant for Prime Minister (PM) House, the minister for industries and production clarified that the grant was for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which is a part of the PM House.
He further claimed that PTI’s fiscal management has been better than that of previous governments.
With respect to the National Finance Commission (NFC), Hammad said that the federal government has no authority to hold NFC funds, but the provinces must also ensure dispersion of due funds to all districts on merit.
