Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s ongoing tour of Sri Lanka cost taxpayers a mere $34,800 (Rs5,507,771 or Rs5.5 million), his special assistant on political communication, Dr Shahbaz Gill, has revealed in a tweet.
The 2016 visit of former premier Nawaz Sharif to Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had cost the treasury $276,266, he stated further.
During his two-day-long visit to the country, PM Imran met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Sri Lankan counterpart besides notable business personalities.
While Gill went on to say that PM Imran’s trip had proven to be more fruitful as compared to that of Nawaz, Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed also claimed that the incumbent premier’s Sri Lanka visit cost the treasury “just $34,000”.
The minister further said the premier had cut his office’s expenses by 49%. He maintained the incumbent government was carefully spending public funds that were a sacred trust.
Saeed’s statements come a week after it was reported that the expenditures of PM House and Office have reportedly reduced by 49% and 29%, respectively.
According to reports, the total expenditure of the PM House narrowed down to Rs280 million (Rs28 crores) in 2020 from Rs339 million (Rs33 crores) in 2019 and Rs590 million (Rs59 crores) in 2018 — the year when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was handed reins of the country.
The PM Office witnessed a considerable decrease in its expenditure from 2018 to 2020, but last year was slightly more than in 2019. It stood at Rs334 million (Rs33 crores) in 2020, Rs305 million (Rs30 crores) in 2019 and Rs514 million (Rs51 crores) in 2018.
The premier, since assuming office in 2018, has been pushing for austerity measures to save taxpayers’ money and reduce the burden on the national exchequer.
Despite the steps taken by PM Imran in this regard, the austerity drive has faced multiple setbacks owing to the apparent reluctance of the lawmakers in cutting down expenses.
