PM extends austerity drive till June 13 to deal with impact of Middle East war

The Middle East war, which began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, has given rise to a global oil crisis. In order to deal with the situation, the government had announced unprecedented austerity measures on March 9.

The measures extended included 50 per cent reduction in fuel allowance for official vehicles, with the exemption of operational vehicles such as ambulances and public buses.

Other steps included the move to ground 60pc of official vehicles and a complete ban on foreign visits by ministers and government officials, excluding those as specified the last time, which were deemed essential for the country’s interests.

“Other additional austerity and fuel conservation measures, as notified from time to time vide this Division’s notifications of even number, shall continue to remain in force over the periods specified in the respective notifications,” the notification read.

“Measures in the case of which no period or end date has been specified, shall remain applicable till further orders,” it added.

Among previously announced austerity measures, the working week for all government offices was reduced to four days — Monday to Thursday.

However, the additional holiday was not availed by banks. It did not apply to the agriculture and industrial sectors, or essential services such as hospitals and ambulance services.

Under the measures, the salary of parliamentarians was to be cut by 25pc, while employees of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and government-supervised institutions were to see their salaries cut by 5pc-30pc.

Expenses of government departments were reduced by 20pc, along with a ban on purchasing vehicles, furniture, air conditioners and other items for government departments.

PM Shehbaz had tasked the premier had tasked the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to carry out a third-party audit of the implementation of the austerity measures.

On April 30, the premier had also decided to extend fuel subsidies for motorcyclists, and public and goods transport by one month.

The subsidies were part of the targeted relief measures announced for bikers, farmers and transporters to cushion the impact of global oil price shocks amid the US-Israel war on Iran.