Large-Scale Cuts in Federal Development Budget Amid Regional Tensions

ISLAMABAD (Rizwan Abbasi): Amid ongoing regional tensions, the federal government has made significant cuts to the development budget, affecting multiple sectors.

According to sources, detailed figures of these reductions have been obtained by Daily Ausaf.

Documents reveal that a total of Rs 24.92 billion has been reduced from the development budgets of provinces and special areas. Similarly, Rs 8.21 billion has been cut from the development budgets of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have seen a reduction of Rs 6.45 billion, while the overall provincial development budgets have been decreased by Rs 10.17 billion.

According to the documents, one of the largest cuts has been made in the development budget of the National Highway Authority, amounting to Rs 22.33 billion. Development funds for parliamentarians have also been reduced by Rs 7.03 billion.

The energy and water sectors have also been impacted, with more than Rs 9 billion cut from power sector development projects and Rs 12.88 billion from water resource projects.

The education and IT sectors have not been spared either. The federal education development budget has been reduced by Rs 3.21 billion, while higher education projects have faced a cut of Rs 4.22 billion. The IT sector has seen a reduction of Rs 2.22 billion.

Among other departments, the Ministry of Interior’s development budget has been cut by Rs 1.39 billion, the Ministry of Health by Rs 1.41 billion, railway projects by Rs 2.24 billion, and more than Rs 1 billion from the Ministry of Defence’s development budget.

Additionally, Rs 1.71 billion has been cut from Revenue Division projects, while Rs 1.62 billion has been reduced from Housing and Works development funds.

Sources further stated that a total of Rs 100 billion cut from the federal development budget will be utilized to stabilize petroleum product prices. According to government officials, the objective of these reductions is to ease economic pressure and manage the impact of regional instability. However, experts warn that these cuts may slow down the pace of development projects across the country.