June 7, 2021 (MLN): The government has utilized 70.5% of the Economic Stimulus Package announced by the Prime Minister to absorb covid-related shock, while 29.5% of the funds remained unutilized, an official document issued by the Ministry of Finance revealed.

To recall, last year in March 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced a rescue and stimulus Package worth Rs1.24trillion to deal with the adverse impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the country's economy.

According to the document released by the Finance Ministry, of the total Rs1.24tln package, the government had utilized only Rs875bn, while Rs365bn of funds remained unused.

As per the document, the government had allocated Rs200bn worth of relief for daily wagers, of which only Rs16bn was spent while Rs184bn left untouched.

Likewise, for utility stores, funding amounting to Rs50bn had been allocated, but the actual disbursement was just Rs10bn. Moreover, Rs150bn had been earmarked for low-income families under BISP, whereas, the actual spending stood at Rs145bn, this suggests that Rs5bn worth of funds remained untapped.

The document further showed that Rs100bn were allocated for small and medium industries and the agriculture sector. However, the disbursement remained only at Rs66.3bn. For exporters, the government had announced Rs100bn worth of relief funds, of which Rs86bn has been utilized while Rs14bn remained unused.

On the electricity front, the government announced Rs100bn as a subsidy on power and gas, out of which only Rs56bn had been spent while Rs44bn remained unutilized. Also, the government announced various tax reliefs worth Rs15bn on food and health items.

In case of emergencies, the government budgeted a sum of Rs100bn, of which only Rs65.6bn worth of funds has been used. The Prime minister also granted a sum of Rs25 billion to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to procure equipment from other countries which had been fully utilized.

In addition, a package of Rs50bn was also announced for medical equipment and incentives for health workers. Out of the total amount, the government disbursed Rs39bn, while Rs11bn remained unspent.

The report also revealed that the funds that were completely utilized include Rs280bn for farmers (wheat procurement), Rs70bn relief on petrol/ Diesel prices, and Rs15bn worth of tax reliefs on food and health items.

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