The Finance Division has issued a clarification on recent reports regarding civil government expenditure, saying aggregate spending figures were presented without proper context and created a misleading impression about the scale and nature of federal spending. In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry said much of the increase in expenditure was linked to salary adjustments announced in the federal budget and allocations for key public health initiatives, particularly the Expanded Program on Immunization.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry said much of the increase in expenditure was linked to salary adjustments announced in the federal budget and allocations for key public health initiatives, particularly the Expanded Program on Immunization.

It said these factors significantly influenced the overall numbers and should be considered when evaluating spending trends.

According to the Finance Division, civil government expenditure during the first nine months of FY2024-25 stood at Rs. 559 billion. This included Rs. 388 billion in employee-related spending and Rs. 171 billion in non-employee expenditure.

During the corresponding period of FY2025-26, total expenditure rose to Rs. 629 billion, consisting of Rs. 427 billion in employee-related costs and Rs. 202 billion in non-employee expenditure.

This represented an overall increase of 12.5 percent compared with the previous year.

The ministry said employee-related expenditure increased by around 10 percent, primarily due to salary and pay adjustments introduced through the federal budget. Meanwhile, non-employee expenditure increased by Rs. 31 billion.

However, officials noted that Rs. 29 billion of that increase was allocated to the Expanded Programme on Immunization, a national public health initiative focused on protecting children from preventable diseases.

After excluding EPI-related allocations, the actual increase in non-employee spending was approximately Rs. 2 billion, according to the statement.

The Finance Division said presenting expenditure figures without accounting for key welfare allocations and spending components does not provide an accurate or complete picture of government spending patterns.

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