ISLAMABAD  -  The utilisation of Foreign Ex­change Component allocated in the Federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) FY2023-24 for devel­opment projects has increased to over 120 per cent and has surpassed Rs 90 billion against the allocation of Rs75 billion during the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year.

A rupee cover of Rs 75 billion was provided to Foreign Ex­change Component, of donors funded projects, in the PSDP 2023-24, however the utiliza­tion was much higher than the initially allocated amount, offi­cial source told The Nation. The reason for the higher utilization is the push from the donors for the maximum use of the FEC and the accelerated pace of work on the foreign funded projects, the source said.

There are total over 100 for­eign funded projects, however approximately 40 percent of the schemes are going at ac­celerated pace, the source maintained. Initially, the PSDP allocation was Rs 950 billion which included Rs 875 billion of rupee component, while Rs 75 billion was FEC component. Owing to less rupee cover, the utilization of donors funds was less, however, now it has accel­erated and will further boost during the remaining four months of the fiscal year 2023-24, the source added.

So far over Rs90 billion FEC funds have been utilized against the initial allocations of Rs 75 billion in the Federal PSDP 2023-24, the source maintained. It is worth noting that the rupee component of the Federal PSDP had been slashed by Rs 10 bil­lion to Rs 865 billion, which has resulted in a reduction of PSDP allocations to Rs 940 billion and may further go down.

The cut of Rs 10 billion had been imposed on the Prime Minister Initiatives, reducing it to Rs 70 billion from the ear­lier allocation of Rs 80 billion. The planning ministry has yet to release the funds authoriza­tion and utilization data for the month of February 2023-24, however as per the data of the seven months (Jul-Jan) released by the ministry reveals, an au­thorization of Rs 507.980 bil­lion had been issued during the first seven months of the ongo­ing fiscal year 2023-24.

The utilization of funds by the Ministries/Divisions is still below the mark and re­mains only Rs 190.442 billion during the first seven months of the FY 2023-24. The pace of expenditure remained very slow as just 20 percent of the of the PSDP allocation of Rs 940 billion had been utilized during July to January period of the ongoing fiscal year.