Certain media reports regarding Civil Government expenditure have presented aggregate figures without necessary context, thereby creating a misleading impression about the nature and scale of federal spending.
A significant portion of the reported increase relates to employee compensation adjustments announced in the budget and allocations for essential public health interventions, particularly the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). When these factors are properly accounted for, the actual increase in operational non-employee expenditure remains minimal.
It is clarified that during the first nine months of FY2024-25, Civil Government expenditure stood at Rs. 559 billion, comprising Rs. 388 billion in employee-related expenditure and Rs. 171 billion in non-employee-related expenditure.
During the corresponding period of FY2025-26, Civil Government expenditure amounted to Rs. 629 billion, including Rs. 427 billion in employee-related expenditure and Rs. 202 billion in non-employee-related expenditure.
Accordingly, the overall increase in Civil Government expenditure is 12.5 percent.
However, a breakdown of the expenditure shows that:
* Employee-related expenditure increased by approximately 10 percent, primarily due to the salary and pay adjustments announced in the federal budget.
* Non-employee-related expenditure increased from Rs. 171 billion to Rs. 202 billion, reflecting an increase of Rs. 31 billion.
Importantly, out of this Rs. 31 billion increase, an amount of Rs. 29 billion was allocated during the current fiscal year for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), a critical national public health initiative aimed at protecting children against preventable diseases.
Therefore, after adjusting for the EPI allocation, the actual increase in non-employee-related expenditure is only around Rs. 2 billion.
The presentation of expenditure figures without highlighting these essential components and public welfare allocations does not provide a complete or accurate picture of government spending trends.
