Thousands of grade 1-16 posts being abolished.

Byline: Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD -- In a major policy decision, the government has started the process of abolition of tens of thousands of Grade 1-16 posts in the federal government that have been vacant for a minimum of one year as part of the right-sizing plan agreed to with the World Bank.

On Wednesday, the ministry of finance asked the establishment division's secretary to proceed on the matter in line with a decision of the Cabinet Implementation Committee 'to abolish all posts that have remained vacant for more than one year in BPS 1-16 in all ministries, divisions and Executive Departments'.

The decision is part of the government's commitment with the international lending agencies, including the World Bank, for the 'reorganisation and right-sizing of the federal government' to control expenditure on running of the civil government.

'It has already been desired by the Prime Minister's Office and the World Bank that governance apparatus may be right-sized and smart and unnecessary expenditure be curtailed,' the letter said. At present, the federal government has sanctioned posts of about 680,000, but more than 80,000 of them have been vacant for more than a year.

The finance ministry said its communication to the establishment division that the number of employees in the federal government had 'increased consistently during the last decade and due to this the annual salary bill has increased by three times and the pension bill is becoming unmanageable'.

The right-sizing decision is part of government's commitment with international agencies

The pension bill of the federal government has been estimated at Rs470 billion for the current fiscal year. It includes pension of military officials at Rs370bn.

Compared to this, the entire expenditure on the running of the federal government is estimated at Rs475bn for this year. The authorities believed that 'structure of the federal government is lopsided, with 95pc employees in Grades 1-16 consuming 85pc of the salary bill'.

The World Bank believes these support staff should not be more than 50pc of the total strength in modern government apparatuses.

The Prime Minister's Adviser on Austerity and Institutional Reforms, Dr Ishrat Hussain...