Auditor general concerned over poor financial affairs

The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has expressed serious concerns over the country’s deteriorating financial affairs, which have resulted in less than 4 per cent of the over Rs38.67 trillion budget being available for socio-economic services. Besides, around 93pc of supplementary grants, worth over Rs8tr, are not approved by the parliament and remain unspent, representing a loss of public resources. In its report on the audit year 2023-24, the AGP said that major financial management issues of the federal government during the fiscal year 2022-23 pertained to “unnecessary allocation of supplementary grants leading to blocking of public funds, the demand of budget without need assessment leading to the surrender of budget, lapse of funds due to non-surrendering of funds in time and non-recording of commitments leading to poor budget management”.