Unlike any foreign grant, Pakistan has not treated $1.5 billion (Rs157 billion) gift from Saudi Arabia as non-tax revenues and instead declared the huge sum a statistical discrepancy in its budgetary books, fueling speculations about the purpose of the aid.
According to the summary of the fiscal operations for July 2013-March 2014, there was a statistical discrepancy of Rs171.4 billion in the budgetary books. The head of statistical discrepancy deals with revenues and expenditures whose source and purpose are not known for the time being.
According to officials, who in the past have remained involved in fiscal operations, if the Saudi Arabia money had been an aid, the government would have treated it as part of foreign grants, which is considered non-tax revenues.
The same fiscal operation summary shows Rs12.3 billion foreign grants as part of its Rs666.5 billion non-tax revenues during the first nine months, raising a question mark over the two different kinds of treatments with the grant.
