The government has announced a series of sweeping austerity measures, including suspension of interest-free car loans for officials and a 30% cut in fuel consumption for official vehicles, to reduce public expenditure amid mounting economic pressure.
The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting held on Thursday night at the Jatiya Sangsad complex with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair, and disclosed at a Cabinet Division press briefing on Friday.
As part of the measures, interest-free loans for purchasing vehicles by public servants have been suspended until further notice.
Under the existing policy, officials with the rank of deputy secretary and above are entitled to interest-free loans of up to Tk 30 lakh to purchase vehicles.
They also receive a monthly allowance of Tk 50,000 for maintenance and driver salary, along with an annual depreciation benefit of 10%.
As part of the new measures, the Cabinet suspended the loan facility. At the same, all government-funded foreign training programmes were also kept on hold until further notice.
It also decided to reduce domestic training-related costs by 50%, cut hospitality expenses for meetings and seminars by 50%, and lower seminar and conference expenses by 20%. Travel expenses will also be reduced by 30%, the briefing said.
As part of cost-cutting efforts, the government decided to cut fuel consumption by 30% for official vehicles used by the Prime Minister, ministers and state ministers.
As per the decision, fuel use for government vehicles on a monthly basis will be reduced by 30%, while the consumption of energy – electricity and gas – in government offices will also be cut by the same margin.
The government also suspended all purchases of vehicles, watercraft, aircraft and computers in the public sector until further notice.
The Cabinet decided to reduce expenditure on beautification of residential buildings by 20% and non-residential buildings by 50%.
Besides, land acquisition will remain suspended for the time being, the briefing said.