The government of Sindh has banned all state departments and institutions from purchasing vehicles for an indefinite period of time.
The ban has been enforced in consideration of the recent floods that destroyed residential areas, infrastructure, crops, and livestock, and have put the country on the verge of an economic crisis.
The decision was announced through a notification that was approved by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and forwarded by the Services, General Administration, and Coordination Department to all the provincial government departments.
Additionally, all unnecessary expenses have also been banned for the same reason.
The federal Minister for Finance, Miftah Ismail, revealed in an interview with CNBC earlier this week that even the international aid that Pakistan has received is not nearly enough to tackle the impending economic crisis brought on by the recent devastating floods.
He remarked that Pakistan will have to do a great deal of heavy lifting in its rebuilding efforts and will require billions of rupees, the majority of which will come from extensive budget cuts and taxes.
The minister also admitted that he expects the federal government to cut the budget even more and said, “I mean, clearly it’s neither to the scale of what has happened in Pakistan. And of course, Pakistan will have to do, in spite of bigger resources, much of the heavy lifting in this rebuilding effort. [It] would probably require at least a couple of thousand billion rupees in Pakistan. And most of that money will come from our budget elsewhere”.
