• Committee provides briefing on reforms for five federal ministries.
• Meeting focuses on reducing public sector size, expenses, more.
  
• PM says curtailing government expenditure was his top priority.
  

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet committee on Institutional Reforms Friday recommended for curtailing 150,000 vacant positions, banning contingency recruitment, and outsourcing non-core services like cleaning, janitorial work, which will gradually phase out many positions in grades 1 to 16.

In a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, for reducing public sector size and expenses, a committee, chaired by the the finance minister, presented its recommendations for right-sizing in the federal government departments. 

The Ministry of Finance was asked to oversee the cash balances of other federal ministries.

The committee provided a detailed briefing on recommended reforms for five federal ministries: the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, the Ministry of State and Frontier Regions, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, the Ministry of Industry and Production, and the Ministry of National Health Services.

The committee proposed merging the Ministry of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan with the Ministry of State and Frontier Regions (Safron).

The proposal also involves closing 28 institutions across these five ministries, transferring the Ministry of Privatisation and some other ministries to federal units, and merging 12 institutions within these ministries.

Speaking on the occasion, PM Shehbaz Sharif directed the authorities concerned that these proposed reforms should be approved by the federal Cabinet and that a comprehensive plan for their implementation be presented. He emphasised that curtailing government expenditure was his top priority.

"The goal of the government’s institutional reforms was to lessen the burden on the national treasury and enhance the quality of services provided to the public," he said.

The premier ordered that the institutions failing to demonstrate adequate public service performance and burdening the national exchequer should be either terminated immediately or privatised without delay.

He also vowed to personally oversee the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), an organisation supporting small and medium enterprises, and directed that SMEDA be brought under the Prime Minister’s Office.

Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, various other federal ministers and relevant senior government officials attended the meeting.