Finance Division rubbishes rumours of govt directions to stop salary, pension payments as ‘Completely false’

The Finance Division said on Saturday that reports that the government had instructed pension and salary payments to cease were “completely false.”

The clarification follows as a media section reported that the finance ministry had instructed the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) to “stop clearing all federal ministries and attached departments’ bills until further orders.” According to the report, “top official sources” stated that “operational cost-related releases faced difficulties in large part due to lingering financial difficulties being faced by the country,” adding that “even the clearance of salary bills has also been stopped.”

However, a press release issued from the Finance Division today rejected the story, saying: “There are rumours floating around that the government has instructed to stop payment of pay, pension, etc. This is completely false as no such instructions have been given by Finance Division, which is the concerned federal ministry.”

It added that the accountant general of Pakistan revenue (AGPR) has “confirmed that pay and pension have already been processed and will be paid on time.”

The press release further said that other payments were also being processed as per routine.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the “fake news” was being spread to “cause harm to the national economic interests”.

“Kindly refrain from circulating such reports and news without verifying from the concerned ministry,” he urged the people.