ISLAMABAD ( WNAM REPORT ): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed all federal ministries and divisions to strictly implement the government’s austerity and energy conservation measures, emphasizing that Pakistan must ensure economic stability despite the prevailing regional and global challenges.
Chairing a review meeting at the Prime Minister’s House on the implementation of the government’s announced austerity and energy-saving initiatives, the prime minister approved making Friday the weekly additional holiday as part of the broader strategy to conserve energy and reduce government expenditures.
Addressing the meeting, the prime minister said the government was making every possible effort to keep the national economy stable despite difficult international circumstances. He stressed that effective implementation of austerity and energy conservation measures was essential to achieving this goal.
The prime minister informed participants that a special committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had been formed to oversee the implementation of these measures. The committee will review progress on a daily basis and submit reports to the government.
PM Shehbaz Sharif also directed that the austerity measures taken by government departments should undergo a third-party audit to assess their impact and ensure transparency and effectiveness.
He instructed all federal ministries and divisions to fully enforce simplicity, austerity and energy-saving steps within their respective departments. The prime minister further directed ministries and institutions to send photographs of vehicles that have been taken off the road under the austerity policy to the Cabinet Division.
The meeting was also told that ministries would submit daily and weekly reports to the special committee regarding the implementation of energy-saving measures and workforce management. The prime minister additionally asked ministries to send reports to the Prime Minister’s Office on steps taken to make work-from-home arrangements more effective.
