ISLAMABAD   -  The Ministry of Finance Wednesday contradicted a news item appearing in a section of press regarding proposed allocation made for the Prime Minister Office in the fiscal budget 2019-20, saying it carried twisting and erroneous figures.

It clarified that the allocation earmarked for the PM Office in the fiscal budget 2019-20 stood at around Rs860.28 million.

The misleading news item, the ministry said, had attributed Rs1.17 billion amount as allocation made to the PM Office in the fiscal budget, showing a proposed increase of 19 percent.

A wrong impression was created by adding allocated budget amounts of other departments with the total amount set aside for the PM Office which amounted to making mockery of the government’s austerity drive.

According to finance ministry, the budget for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had been allocated around Rs 309 million and that amount was wrongly added to the total budget amount allocated for the PM Office.