ISLAMABAD-The ministry of finance (MoF) has directed all the ministries and divisions that no expenditure should be approved by the principal accounting officers (PAOs) or other authorised officers without availability of funds through budgetary mechanism.
The ministry has issued notification regarding ‘execution of budgetary allocations in accordance with provisions of constitution of Pakistan 1973 and PFM (Public Finance Management) act 2019’. The ministries and divisions have been asked for strictly implement the provisions of constitution, law, rules, regulations, procedures, guidelines, strategies and instructions regarding release of funds. “There should not be any deviation, non-compliance by any authority or office for whatever reason and circumstances”, the notification stated.
It explained that PAOs are the Chief Accountable Officers for the public funds entrusted to them by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The PAOs are responsible for financial propriety, fiscal discipline and output based performance budgeting. According to the ministry of finance, all the autonomous bodies, organizations, commissions, authorities, entities and corporations of the federal government, which are receiving public funds, in whichever form, kind, procedure, directly or indirectly, shall seek prior approval of Finance Division, through Expenditure Wing, relating to creation of new posts, any increase in Pay and Allowances of their employees (ERE), Pension and Non-ERE.
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Grant-in-Aid shall be non-recurring and funds shall be disbursed only to meet any justified shortfall for a limited period of time. All bodies receiving Grant-in-aid should endeavor to be self-sufficient to meet their operational expenditures in accordance with their approved budgets by their competent forums.
The expenditures on subsidies should be targeted and output based. Any un-targeted subsidy should be phased out at the earliest. All the proposals for grant of subsidies shall be prepared in consultation with relevant Wings of the Finance Division. There shall be no un-funded subsidy. g. All commitments involving foreign exchange, including Subscriptions and Contributions to the international organizations, shall only be made with the prior concurrence of the External Finance Wing of the Finance Division. h. The PAOs are responsible for closely pursuing cases in courts of law that could result in adverse financial implications for the government.
The ministry explained that in pursuance of Article 79 of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, the Public Finance Management Act 2019 has been enacted by the Federal Government. Section 22 of the Act provides that custody and operation of Federal Consolidated Fund and Public Account of Federation shall vest in the Finance Division under supervision of Federal Government. Furthermore, under Section 23 of the Act, no authority shall incur or commit any expenditure or enter into any liability involving expenditure from the Federal Consolidated Fund and Public Account of the Federation until the same has been sanctioned by a duly empowered competent authority and the expenditure has been provided for the financial year through Schedule of Authorized Expenditure; or Supplementary Grant and Technical Supplementary Grant; or Re-Appropriation. Moreover, no authority shall transfer public moneys for investment or deposit from government accounts, including assignment accounts, to other bank accounts without prior approval from the federal government.
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