Islamabad, Jun 7 (PTI) The Pakistan government on Tuesday restored two weekly holidays for public offices as it adopted a raft of austerity measures to cut expenditures.

On the first day in office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 16 had ordered that public sector offices would also work on Saturdays and the weekly off would be limited to Sundays only. However, the decision was considered to be taken in haste without taking the operational cost. It also angered employees who staged protests.

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"Saturday offs have been restored. These are challenging times and it has been done to control this crisis," Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said during a press briefing after the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.

Other measures decided by the Cabinet include, slashing the petrol quota of government officials and the Cabinet by 40 per cent - a measure aimed to please angry masses as people were demanding cuts in the free fuel used by the officials after record price hike in petroleum products badly hit the poor.

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"So while we are asking people to sacrifice, we have begun these measures with the Cabinet in order to pass on as little burden to the people as possible," Aurangzeb said.

The Cabinet also discussed a proposal to allow public sector workers to operate from home on Fridays to further cut the running cost of government offices.

But instead of taking a quick decision, the Cabinet set up a committee to devise a mechanism so "efficiency is not affected much and how we may benefit from it in an effective manner", said Aurangzeb, adding the committee would present recommendations in the next Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet also decided that the provincial municipal authorities should keep street lights running "on alternate nights" to save energy. However, the issue of closing the markets early to use sunlight for business activities was delayed for further consultations with the business community.

The Cabinet also banned purchase of vehicles except ambulances and school buses. It also asked officials to hold virtual meetings to save fuel costs.

It also restricted foreign visits of officials unless such a trip was essential and duly authorised by the government. “A complete ban has been imposed on official visits by government officials, functionaries and ministries. Only obligatory visits and very important bilateral visits will be allowed," said Aurangzeb.

The measures come as the government has been struggling to address the current accounts deficit. The situation is getting difficult due to rising fuel prices and depreciating rupee.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said at a seminar that Pakistan would need USD 41 billion in the next 12 months to keep the economy rolling, but he also hoped that the country would meet its targets.

He also announced that the government had re-engaged with the International Monetary Fund and showed confidence that “we will soon have an agreement with the IMF."

The IMF has agreed in 2019 to provide USD 6 billion but so far only released half of the amount. The current government is trying to meet its tough conditions to get the remaining half and also an additional USD 2 billion.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)