The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday approved a PKR 7.76 billion operating expenditure budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which is a 10 per cent reduction from the last budget as part of the PCB's austerity, robust financial management and belt-tightening exercise.
The decision was taken by the BoG yesterday during their second meeting of the year, 58th overall, via a videoconference under the chairmanship of Ehsan M.
The board has allocated 71.2 per cent of the overall budget for cricket-related activities to ensure that despite tough financial situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cricket remains unaffected and the PCB continues to invest in the future.
"The allocated 71.2 per cent cricket budget includes 25.2 per cent for domestic cricket (events and players/match officials/player support personnel contracts and High-Performance Centre costs), 19.3 per cent for international cricket (home/away series and player contracts), 5.5 per cent for women's cricket (home/away cricket and player contracts), 19.7 per cent for PSL 2021 and 1.5 per cent for Medical and Sport Sciences," read a statement.
The BoG has agreed to continue investment on infrastructure development by approving a PKR 1.22 billion budget for capital expenditure, a reduction of approximately PKR 800 million from 2019-20.
"We have followed a strict cost-benefit and value for money policy while preparing this budget taking into consideration the economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget caters for all critical business of cricket activities, while the nice-to-have activities have been set aside as part of our cost-cutting measures and to protect our reserves for the future," PCB Chairman Ehsan M said.
M further said that investment in infrastructure will be important keeping in mind PCB's interest in hosting ICC events in the 2023-31 cycle.
"I am also grateful to the BoG for approving the capital expenditure budget, which is aimed at enhancing and improving our infrastructure so that we can provide better experience and facilities to our fans and cricketers, and also develop and upgrade our high-performance centres across the country. This will be an important investment as we have submitted an expression of interest for some ICC Events in the 2023-31 cycle and quality cricket infrastructure will be one of the key factors that will determine if we are successful in earning hosting rights of any of the events," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
