Dr. Kaiser Bengali, a member of the federal government’s right-sizing committee, has stepped down from his position.
The media reports said that he stepped down from his position just because of disillusionment with the government’s failure to reduce expenses and its policies.
Dr. Bengali announced his resignation from the Right-Sizing Committee, saying that the federal government is not serious about cutting its expenditures.
The economist, according to the reports, stepped down from three other government committees, including the Austerity Committee, the Right-Sizing Committee and the government expenditure reduction committee.
He confirmed sending his written resignation to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Cabinet Secretary Kamran Afzal.
In his statement, Dr. Bengali acknowledged that the government made some good efforts to reduce expenses, saying that the three committees he was part of were crucial and had provided significant recommendations. These included reviewing 70 government institutions and 17 state-owned corporations.
Dr. Bengali revealed that the committees recommended shutting down 17 divisions and 50 government departments to cut costs, but the government did not seriously implement these suggestions and instead took actions contrary to them. Rather than targeting higher-ranking officials, the government is laying off lower-level employees, while protecting jobs of officers in grades 17 to 22.
According to Dr. Bengali, removing senior officials could save Rs30 billion annually, but the government’s focus on cutting jobs from grade 1 to 16 is pushing the economy further towards disaster, with Pakistan’s economic situation already on life support.
He also disclosed that due to the dire economic situation, the IMF and other institutions are unwilling to provide loans.
Meanwhile, inflation destroyed household budgets, leading to a rise in suicides among citizens.
