PM's generosity to government employees at the fag end of PML-N's regime

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has showered generosity on government employees by announcing three months salary to them ahead of less than one week before leaving the office on completion of government tenure. Secretary to the Prime Minister through a letter directed Finance Division that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Chairman Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has seen and is pleased to order that all employees of the federal government should be given honorarium equivalent to three (3) basic pays for financial year 2017-18.
The Prime Minister directed that no exception shall be allowed for payment in excess of the ceiling in any case. The Prime Minister has further desired that for the financial year 2018-19 onwards a policy may be formulated by the new elected government after the general election 2018.
Sources in the Finance Ministry on condition of anonymity described the Prime Minister's decision as economically unwise when the country is facing critical fiscal situation with budget deficit mounting to 4.3 percent in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. There is still one quarter remaining of the current fiscal year and these kinds of actions in the last days in government will make even more difficult for finance minister to manage the deficit upward revised target of 5.5 percent for the current fiscal year, they added.
They added that the announcement of three months basic salary to the government employees will entail fiscal impact of around Rs 4 to Rs 5 billion. They said that total net revenue available with the federal government after transfer to the provinces is inadequate for financing the liabilities of defense, debt servicing and development while government business is yet to start. They added that sometime gesture is important but this kind of generosity is against the austerity. Sources said that limiting the fiscal deficit at 5.5 percent as revised upward from budget target of 4.3 percent for the current fiscal year will be difficult to achieve.