Pakistan fails to pay salaries to press attaches, counsellor in embassies due to dollar liquidity crunch

Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has failed to pay the salaries of staff employed in certain diplomatic missions for the last three months due to the dollar liquidity crunch in the country. This has led to a massive hue and cry, The News International newspaper reported.

The News International, published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English-language newspapers in Pakistan.

Press attaches working in the US, and Hong Kong as well as press counsellors deputed in Singapore continue to live without salary from June.

Pakistan’s Finance Ministry has said that the country’s foreign exchange limits have already been exhausted. So, their salaries cannot be released even for the current month. This implies that officials working in the highly expensive cities of Washington, Hong Kong, and Singapore will have to make do without salary for four months.

Top official sources told The News International that: “The press attaches working in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong as well as press counsellor deputed in Singapore continue to live without salary from June.”

The fault is also on the part of the Ministry of Information that allocated funds on account of foreign exchange not in line with the actual requirements.

This issue surfaced in the last financial year 2022-23 as well but the then finance minister Ishaq Dar approved the provision of salaries through the supplementary grant/technical supplementary grant for the employees in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, a source said that even schools have warned parents that their children won’t be allowed to sit in exams if fee was not paid this month.