The federal cabinet on Wednesday decided to abolish the annual discretionary funds of the federal ministers.
Decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to approve the annual budget for the financial year 2013-14, official sources said.
According to sources, all the ministers used to get Rs 600,000 annually as discretionary funds, but now these funds have been abolished.
Sources said this practice would save Rs 20 million annually.
The discretionary funds of the PM for development projects have also been abolished.
Separately, the Finance Ministry has issued a notification cancelling the secret funds of 16 ministries.
The notification issued on 11th June, 2012 will enable the federal government to save Rs 6 billion of the national exchequer. The ministries whose secret funds have been abolished include the Foreign Affairs, the Interior, the Information Technology, the Information and Broadcasting, Pakistani embassies in the US and Britain.
However, the Defence Ministry and intelligence institutions would be able to use the secret funds which would be audited by the auditor general of Pakistan.
