The Ministry of Finance has been unable to pay the salaries of staff members employed in some diplomatic missions for the past three months due to a shortage of dollars, as per local media reports.
There has been a great uproar after the finance ministry announced that the foreign exchange restrictions had already been reached and that their salaries could not even be released for the current month.
As a result, government employees in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Washington, three extremely costly locations, will be forced to go four months without receiving a paycheck.
According to high government sources who spoke with local media on Wednesday, “the press attaches working in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, as well as press counsellor deputed in Singapore, continue to live without salary from June.”
The Ministry of Information also bears responsibility for improperly allocating funding for foreign exchange in relation to actual needs.
The matter came up again in the previous fiscal year 2022–2023, however Ishaq Dar, the finance minister at the time, approved paying salaries to the members of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet through supplementary grants or technical supplementary grants.
According to reports, even schools have informed parents that if fees are not paid this month, their children won’t be permitted to take examinations.
The top officials in the finance ministry, however, were vague about the situation. The ministry has not yet designated a spokesperson, preventing the media from obtaining its perspective on various pressing problems.
When asked about this, the minister of information, Murtaza Solangi, responded, “Let me first ask the finance minister.”
