ISLAMABAD: Amid little progress on austerity, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday ordered all ministers and top bureaucrats to come up with plans for 10 per cent cut in expenditures in their respecdve areas to support his national austerity plan and promised to soon introduce an economic reform package offer-ing relief to the industry.

The prime minister also told his cabinet colleagues that crown princes of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates,Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed, respectively, would pay historic visits to Pakistan.

Briefing the media about ameeting of the federal cabinet, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the cabinet ordered removal of the names of parliamentarians MohsinDawar and Ali Wazir and chartered accountant Shabbar Zaidi from the Exit Control List.

Mr Chaudhry said the prime minister spoke to the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the phone. Crown Princes Mohammed bin Zayed and Mohammed bin Salman will visit Pakistan in January and February, respectively.

He said the cabinet approved an amended memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the intervention of the Balochistan government to facilitate Saudi investments in Pakistan that he claimed would be `the biggest foreigninvestmentin Pakistan`s history`.

The information minister did not go into details of the highprofile visits.He said the amended MoU would now go back to the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia for approval on their side, hopefully within a week.

He said the finance minister briefed the cabinet about financial matters. An official said the cabinet was told about negligible progress on expenditure cuts by the ministries, divisions and attached departments. It was reported that about 76pc of the government budget was spent on salary, pension, allowances and related unavoidable expenditures and there was limited space in the remaining 24pc budgetto secure savings.

It was reported that salary, QUETTA:BalochistanGovernorretired Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai has said that research and invention play a major role in bringing about changes in society and urged students to take benefit from educational facilities the government is extending for promotion of education in the province.

Speaking at the 14th convocation of the Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences (BUITMS) here on Thursday, the governorsaid the university was providing quality education to students and its graduates would utilise their specialities for development of the province. He stressed the need for providing a research-based educational environment in universities because the world`s leading universities had been focusing on quality research and invention.

BUITMS Vice Chancellor Farooq Bazai highlighted the achievements of the university and its future plans.

-Staff Correspondentpension and allowances consumed about Rs590 billion of about Rs800bn allocated for pension and running of the government while the non-salary budget was no more than Rs220bn the maximum saving could be no more than Rs1520bn. The total pension bill amounts to Rs343bn, including Rs260bn of military pension and Rs83bn of civilian pensioners, while Rs245bn amounts to salary and allowance.

Mr Chaudhry agreed that size of the ministries had expanded significantly over the years, resulting in large salary and pension bills.

Obviously, this was unsustainable and needed restructuring in thelong run, he said.

According to Mr Chaudhry, the prime minister directed that all ministries should come up with plans to cut their expenditure by 10pc while his adviser on government reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain is now in final stages of preparing recommendations for restructuring of the government.

The prime minister told the participants that the country could not be run forever on loans and would have to stand on its feet for which it was necessary for the ministers and senior bureaucracy to inculcate the habit of austerity.

The government would keep foreign visits at a minimal level and delegations in small size in case these are unavoidable.The cabinet reviewed matters relating to Hundi and Hawala and noted that Pakistanis were facing difficulties in sending their funds back home mostly because of tough laws of some of countries of origin of these remittances. It was decided to activate the network of Pakistan Postal Service.

The cabinet also approved transfer of data relating to Pakistan`s taxation system to the World Bank for analysis so that true revenue potential of the country could be assessed and a policy could be formulated to encourage the industry in long term.

Prime Minister Khan ordered that there would be no reduction in funds previously going to the tribal region, including stipend forstudents and assistance for patients and the poor that had been in place in the previous Malik system, and approved Rs1.63bn for this purpose.

The information minister said that the prime minister expressed concern over an unchanging culture at the country`s airports that created problems for overseas Pakistanis and ordered the ministries of aviation and interior to take immediate steps in this regard.

The cabinet ordered merger of three different investigations on cost escalation from Rs35bn to Rs137bn and poor construction of Islamabad International Airport being conducted by the National Accountability Bureau, FederalInvestigation Agency and Civil Aviation Authority into one and sought its early completion and submission of a report to the cabinet.

The cabinet also sought formulation of a relaxed visa regime for foreigners, including journalists, to encourage tourism and noted that the past regime of reciprocity to other countries was unrealistic.

The meeting granted chartered airline licence to Vision Air and renewed licences of Serene Air and PIA. Mr Chaudhry said that the PIA was in the process of revamping and had over Rs72bn payables to the CAA and did not qualify for renewal on merit but was allowed extension for being a national carrier. pension and allowances consumed about Rs590 billion of about Rs800bn allocated for pension and running of the government while the non-salary budget was no more than Rs220bn the maximum saving could be no more than Rs1520bn. The total pension bill amounts to Rs343bn, including Rs260bn of military pension and Rs83bn of civilian pensioners, while Rs245bn amounts to salary and allowance.

Mr Chaudhry agreed that size of the ministries had expanded significantly over the years, resulting in large salary and pension bills.

Obviously, this was unsustainable and needed restructuring in thelong run, he said.

According to Mr Chaudhry, the prime minister directed that all ministries should come up with plans to cut their expenditure by 10pc while his adviser on government reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain is now in final stages of preparing recommendations for restructuring of the government.

The prime minister told the participants that the country could not be run forever on loans and would have to stand on its feet for which it was necessary for the ministers and senior bureaucracy to inculcate the habit of austerity.

The government would keep foreign visits at a minimal level and delegations in small size in case these are unavoidable.The cabinet reviewed matters relating to Hundi and Hawala and noted that Pakistanis were facing difficulties in sending their funds back home mostly because of tough laws of some of countries of origin of these remittances. It was decided to activate the network of Pakistan Postal Service.

The cabinet also approved transfer of data relating to Pakistan`s taxation system to the World Bank for analysis so that true revenue potential of the country could be assessed and a policy could be formulated to encourage the industry in long term.

Prime Minister Khan ordered that there would be no reduction in funds previously going to the tribal region, including stipend forstudents and assistance for patients and the poor that had been in place in the previous Malik system, and approved Rs1.63bn for this purpose.

The information minister said that the prime minister expressed concern over an unchanging culture at the country`s airports that created problems for overseas Pakistanis and ordered the ministries of aviation and interior to take immediate steps in this regard.

The cabinet ordered merger of three different investigations on cost escalation from Rs35bn to Rs137bn and poor construction of Islamabad International Airport being conducted by the National Accountability Bureau, FederalInvestigation Agency and Civil Aviation Authority into one and sought its early completion and submission of a report to the cabinet.

The cabinet also sought formulation of a relaxed visa regime for foreigners, including journalists, to encourage tourism and noted that the past regime of reciprocity to other countries was unrealistic.

The meeting granted chartered airline licence to Vision Air and renewed licences of Serene Air and PIA. Mr Chaudhry said that the PIA was in the process of revamping and had over Rs72bn payables to the CAA and did not qualify for renewal on merit but was allowed extension for being a national carrier.