ISLAMABAD, April 8: The 2008-09 budget is unlikely to be the usual “15 per cent higher than the previous one” due to declining revenues.

Sources told Dawn that the Senate Finance Committee had been informed on Tuesday by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that there was hardly any cushion left to provide the usual 15 per cent increase in the budget.

The committee as a first step accepted the proposal of Mr Dar that there will be no increase in the budget of Senate secretariat next year.Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro presided over the meeting.

“Participants endorsed the finance minister’s initiative that no increase in the funds be allowed for the Senate and even for other institutions in the budget,” said a source privy to the meeting.

“The decision is that there will be no increase in salaries of employees of the Senate secretariat,” he said.

Mr Dar told the meeting that federal ministries and divisions were being directed to seek minimum funding requirements for the next financial year.

He informed the meeting about the state of economy with special reference to difficulties being faced to finance the budget.

The sources said that financial advisers of federal ministries and divisions were being told to take into account the “critical financial position” while finalising their funding requirements for the next financial years.

The committee underlined the need for continuing to incur expenditures within the prescribed budget limits and called for maximum possible economy in day-to-day expenditure for future budgets.

The Senate chairman said the Senate Finance Committee was effectively playing its role as a monitoring body.

“We should be self-critical and adopt austerity while spending money and it was in this spirit that expenditures of the Senate secretariat were kept within authorised appropriations this year and no supplementary budget was demanded.”

Mr Dar appreciated the committee’s gesture to freeze the budgetary demands of the secretariat and expressed the hope that the secretariat would serve as a role model for other institutions.

The minister re-affirmed the government’s commitment to respect the supremacy of parliament.

He said that the Senate Finance Committee was a constitutional body and the finance ministry was bound to honour its decisions.

Senator Ishaq Dar and Senator Ahmed Ali announced a personal donation of Rs500,000 and Rs100,000 for the Senate Secretariat Employees Welfare Fund.

The committee accorded unanimous approval to miscellaneous expenditures incurred by the Senate secretariat on various accounts.

On a proposal of Senator Razina Alam Khan, the committee decided to include Senators Kamil Ali Agha and Ahmed Ali in the sub-committee formed earlier to review and recommend avenues of administrative restructuring for various posts, particularly those held by low-paid employees of the Senate secretariat.

This could also provide promotion opportunities.

Deputy Senate chairman Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali, Senators Wasim Sajjad, Razzaq A. Thahim, Razina Alam Khan, Rukhsana Zuberi and Kamil Ali Agha attended the meeting.