A few days before leaving for Washington to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new bailout package to avoid a default, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a proposal to give up to four salaries in bonuses to his staff. He also asked his finance minister to concur with it.
The PM is being faced with criticism that the policy to hand out such big awards to bureaucrats amidst such deeply serious economic conditions is against an austerity drive.
Also, analysts are asking whether this move would bode well for the new IMF bailout package as the IMF discourages bloated government expenditures.
The rewards were approved for staff officers because of ‘their extraordinary efforts in the completion of tasks’, according to the Express Tribune.
More importantly, the cost for these bonuses will be paid to these government servants by taking loans from banks at a 23 per cent interest rate.
