Islamabad: With rapid depreciation of the exchange rate and escalating living costs in world capitals, the government of Pakistan spent a whopping Rs 9.8 billion on its foreign missions last year, with the Indian mission in New Delhi being amongst the highest in world.
Official documents revealed that over the past six fiscal years, Pakistan`s 121 missions abroad registered a 72 percent increase in expenses, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs incurring cumulative expenditures worth Rs 48.8 billion, reports The Express Tribune.
Foreign Office spokesperson Moazam Ali Khan linked the sudden increase in expenditures of foreign missions abroad with skyrocketing inflation across the globe.
Khan said that foreign missions abroad continued to keep expenditures to a minimum, justifying the sharp increase by recalling that a few years ago one US dollar was equivalent to approximately 62 Pakistani rupees.
Pakistan`s mission in New Delhi was reported to be the most expensive in South Asia. Islamabad`s diplomatic office in New Delhi spent Rs 192 million in the fiscal year 2007-08. Meanwhile, Pakistan`s mission in New York spent Rs 138.2 million in the same fiscal year, which was Rs 54 million less than New Delhi.
In fiscal year 2008-09, the New Delhi High Commission expenses jumped to a startling Rs271 million compared to the Pakistan High Commission in New York, which spent Rs124 million during the same year.
(ANI)
