KARACHI: In accordance with a ruling by the Supreme Court, the State Bank of Pakistan has set aside Rs21 billion for the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly’ elections and requested approval from the finance ministry before releasing the funds, it emerged on Tuesday.
An approval of government is required to release the amount from the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) while the government has to get National Assembly’s approval for its release.
“The required Rs21bn is not a real problem for the government that has already borrowed over Rs2 trillion so far from banks during FY23. The problem is political or constitutional, not money,” SBP’s chief spokesman Abid Qamar was quoted as saying in Dawn.
It should be noted that the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Friday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to release Rs21 billion to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to enable it to hold elections in Punjab.
In a hearing of the case pertaining to Punjab Assembly elections, it asked the SBP to arrange the money from the Federal Consolidated Fund.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Sima Kamil, finance secretaries and officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were summoned on Friday over the government’s failure to disburse funds for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The development comes after the SC ruled on April 4 that Punjab elections should be held on May 14 and directed the federal government to release Rs21 billion to the ECP by April 10 for the polls.
