The Ministry of Finance clarified on Thursday that recent media reports on civil government expenditure presented aggregate figures without proper context, saying that the overall increase in expenditure was 12.5%.
“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,” the Ministry of Finance said in a press release today.
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 Immunisation (EPI).
When these factors are properly accounted for, the actual increase in operational non-employee expenditure remains minimal, clarified the ministry.
It said that during the first nine months of FY2024-25, civil government expenditure stood at Rs559 billion, comprising Rs388 billion in employee-related expenditure and Rs171 billion in non-employee-related expenditure.
“During the corresponding period of FY2025-26, civil government expenditure amounted to Rs629 billion, including Rs427 billion in employee-related expenditure and Rs202 billion in non-employee-related expenditure.”
The statement said that, however, a detailed breakdown of the expenditure indicates that employee-related spending rose by around 10%, mainly due to salary and pay increases announced in the federal budget.
Meanwhile, non-employee expenditure increased from Rs171 billion to Rs202 billion, marking a rise of Rs31 billion.
Importantly, out of this Rs31 billion increase, an amount of Rs29 billion was allocated during the current fiscal year for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)
Therefore, after adjusting for the EPI allocation, the actual increase in non-employee-related expenditure is only around Rs2 billion, added the ministry.
“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.”
