ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said the federal government planned to abolish nearly 150,000 vacant government posts by June to implement its rightsizing reforms, which aim to reduce expenditures and enhance efficiency of public departments.
Pakistan’s federal government established an austerity committee in Feb. 2024 to cut its expenditures and implement institutional rightsizing reforms.
On Dec. 24, the committee proposed the closure and merger of various departments in the Ministries of Science and Technology, Commerce, Housing and Works, and National Food Security.
The committee also suggested the federal cabinet to reduce staff in these ministries by 30 percent, aiming to save the national exchequer around Rs42.1 billion ($151 million) annually.
“For the rightsizing of federal government, entire process, including recommendations and implementation for all 43 ministries and their 400 attached departments, will be completed before June 30,” Aurangzeb said at a press conference in Islamabad.
“Sixty percent of vacant regular posts, approximately 150,000, will be abolished or declared redundant, resulting in a significant financial impact.”
The development comes amid Pakistan’s efforts to revive its $350 billion economy since avoiding a default in June 2023. The South Asian country last year secured a new $7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has been actively pursuing trade and investment opportunities to put the economy on the path of recovery.
Sharing six-month performance of the austerity committee, he said general non-core services, including gardening, cleaning and plumbing, were outsourced by government departments to improve efficiency, while contingency posts were reduced to some extent.
“In the first phase, decisions were made concerning six ministries, including Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, SAFRON (State and Frontier Regions), IT and Telecom, Industries and Production, National Health Services, and the Capital Administration and Development Division (CAD),” he said.
The committee decided to abolish CAD and merge the Ministries of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan with SAFRON, according to the finance minister. This reduced 80 entities associated with these ministries to 40.
In the second phase, he said, the Ministries of Science and Technology, Commerce, Housing and Works, and National Food Security were reviewed.
“Out of the 60 entities within these ministries, 25 will be dissolved, 20 will be reduced, and nine will be merged,” Aurangzeb said, promising to ensure implementation of the austerity committee’s decisions.
“In the third phase, recommendations regarding five ministries, Federal Education and Professional Training, Information and Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture, Finance Division, and Power Division, will be submitted to the federal cabinet for approval.”

KARACHI: Police have arrested a man for killing a citizen in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore last week in return for two Umrah tickets and a motorbike, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
The suspect, Hafiz Usman, was hired by his neighbor, Imtiaz, to kill Muhammad Riaz, Imtiaz’s brother-in-law, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amir Malik.
Imtiaz had a property dispute with his wife and brother-in-law and he lured Usman into killing Riaz.
“Exploiting Usman’s religious inclinations, Imtiaz offered to send him on an Umrah pilgrimage instead of paying him in cash for committing the murder,” DSP Malik told Arab News.
“As part of the deal, the shooter was supposed to get two Umrah tickets and a motorcycle. Motivated by this offer, Usman killed Muhammad Riaz on January 1.”
Imtiaz had transferred a house to his wife’s name, who had refused to return the property after a domestic disagreement and sought her brother Riaz’s counsel. The disagreement escalated and Imtiaz’s wife left him to stay at her brother’s house, according to the police officer.
Usman already has a criminal record and is a proclaimed offender in a kidnapping and sexual assault case in the Sheikhupura district.
DSP Malik said they managed to arrest the suspect with the help of surveillance footage from Lahore Safe City Project cameras and call data records.
“Efforts are underway to arrest Imtiaz and any other suspects,” he added.
In Nov. last year, police arrested a woman who had stolen 20 tolas of gold, worth Rs5.6 million ($20,250), from her neighbor’s home in the southern port city of Karachi and had gone to perform Umrah pilgrimage, according to local media.
The police later arrested the woman and recovered three tolas of gold and Rs1.5 million ($5,363).