Decline in development expenditure and BISP

During July-September 2011-12 the government's flagship Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), focused on providing assistance to the vulnerable, declined by 50 percent and the number of beneficiaries of the government-supported programmes declined by 43 percent.
Additionally a look at the data sourced to budget documents as well as to the Economic Survey indicates that federal, provincial and other development expenditure (inclusive of BISP) actually declined as a percentage of total federal expenditure over the four years of PPP rule: in 2008-09 and 2009-10 total realised allocation for development was 24 percent of total expenditure, however in the subsequent year (2010-11) allocation declined to 19.8 percent. In the current fiscal year's budget, the percentage allocation for development expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure was an impressive 29.8 percent, however there are no takers even within the Ministry of Finance as to the likelihood of achieving this target. Analysts fear that in the current fiscal year, actual allocation for development would be mercilessly slashed (if past precedent is anything to go by) and total expenditure would be considerably greater than budgeted leaving total development expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure even lower than the 19.8 percent achieved last year.
In its defence, the Finance Ministry may well claim that due to the devolution of several subjects including education and health, the actual federal outlay for development has considerably declined. True however, the statistics cited above reflect total development expenditure allocations inclusive of provincial development allocations that are indicated in the federal budget payment for which comes from the divisible pool of taxes collected by the Federal Board of Revenue on behalf of the provinces as well as other development expenditures.
These are disturbing statistics and raise questions about the claims made by President Asif Ali Zardari in his speech to the joint sitting of parliament that "during the last four years the government spent 2200 billion rupees on development programmes (an amount that includes federal, provincial and other development expenditures as well as the unrealistic budgeted allocations for the current year)...our flagship programme to fight poverty is the BISP. Under this programme, 6 million families living below the poverty line have been identified. The programme provides cash transfers, job training, insurance and business support. The government has given 138 billion rupees in four years," (by focusing on total amounts allocated for the BISP in the past four years, the actual percentages that indicate performance from year to year were hidden).
Development expenditure has been traditionally slashed as and when the Ministry of Finance becomes uncomfortable about the budget deficit. This policy is not unique to the PPP or indeed to Dr Hafeez Sheikh for the simple reason that it is considered politically more feasible to slash public sector projects and poverty alleviation programmes rather than defence spending. Interest payments on past domestic and external debt accounting for over 30 percent of total current expenditure cannot be cut as that would compromise the country's credit rating immediately. However, there is a need to revisit the policy to slash development spending as higher outlay on infrastructure and social sectors not only provides jobs to many, but also enables the poorer segments of society access to these basic sectors.
The government must understand that to hide behind inaccurate statistics is no longer a viable policy decision. The media as well as the public is more informed than in the past. To bar the media from visiting ministries, revealed by senior Finance Ministry officials on condition of anonymity, is unlikely to keep unsavoury statistics from the public which is burdened by high inflation, massive loadshedding and no increase in access to basic social and infrastructure facilities.