Govt officials, ministers and parliamentarians: PPP proposes cut in salaries and perks

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) proposed concrete steps toward self-reliance and self-sufficiency by reducing salaries and perks of constitutional, government, and state officials by 50 percent, and urged federal and provincial ministers as well as parliamentarians to voluntarily cut their own salaries and perks by 40 percent.

In his statement issued on Tuesday, Secretary General of the PPP Parliamentarians, Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, said that difficult decisions need to be made with the priority of building a strong and stable Pakistan to deal withthe energy crisis caused by the Middle East war.

He emphasized that governments cannot run on loans and aid, and practical steps must be taken to gradually free ourselves from international institutions. He stressed the need for a national consensus on standing on our own feet.

Bukhari also suggested significant cuts in government, state, and institutional expenditures to reduce the burden on the national treasury. He proposed shutting down central air conditioning and heating systems in government and private institutions to conserve energy.

The PPP leader advocated for bringing the housing, foreign currency, stock exchange, transport, industrial, and commercial sectors into the tax net. He suggested imposing government fees on private housing societies’ residential and commercial property transactions.

The PPP Secretary General emphasized eliminating all privileges of the elite to alleviate people’s hardships, citing that inflation has made necessities unaffordable. He criticized those who evade taxes despite benefiting from the country.

The PPP leader stressed prioritizing agriculture, the backbone of the economy, and providing maximum subsidies to farmers for fuel, machinery, fertilizers, and seeds.

He welcomed the national leadership’s meeting, stating that consultations on national issues at the federal and provincial levels reflect responsible thinking.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026