July 8, 2002	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26,1423

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ISLAMABAD July 7: The federal finance ministry, in a shift from the past practice, has decided to release 60 per cent of the budgetary allocations to various ministries, divisions, attached departments and autonomous bodies in the current month, informed sources revealed.

Under the changed financial rules, the remaining 40 per cent money would be released in Jan 2003 after receiving reports confirming spending of the already released funds.

Complete reports of expenditures incurred on the schemes for which the funds were released, would be essentially submitted to the finance division in December to get the remaining funds released, the sources said.

The step, according to high ranking officials of the finance division, has been in line with the government’s instructions to make sure that every penny allocated for the development schemes was spent on the schemes and chances of embezzlement and corruption were minimised.

The change of rules for funds’ release is in line with objections raised by the audit department in recent proceedings of the Ad Hoc Public Accounts Committee.

Earlier, the funds were released to the ministries/divisions concerned and attached departments mostly in the month of July every financial year which partially resulted in the non-utilisation of the large amounts.