Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s office on Friday announced that several luxury and surplus official vehicles will be auctioned on September 17, Dawn reported. The government released a list that includes eight BMWs, three 2014 model cars, three 5,000cc sports utility vehicles and two 2016 model 3,000cc sports utility vehicles.

The auction will be held at the prime minister’s house. Other vehicles on the list include four 2016 model Mercedes Benz cars, two of which are bullet-proof, and 16 Toyota vehicles. Four bullet-proof 2015 land cruiser vehicles, one Honda Civic, one 1994 model Hino bus and three Suzuki vehicles will also be put up for auction.

Earlier in August, the newly elected government banned first-class travel by leaders and discretionary funds of the prime minister, federal ministers, and members of the National Assembly. The ministers are eligible to travel on business-class tickets.

It also ruled out all non-essential foreign tours by his ministers and senior bureaucrats.

Austerity programme

In his first address to the nation after being sworn in, Khan talked about Pakistan’s challenges on the economic front, promised sweeping reforms to implement austerity and revive a stagnant economy. He highlighted the country’s debt burden. “Never in Pakistan’s history have we faced such difficult economic circumstances,” he had said. “Our debt burden is now at Rs 28 trillion. We haven’t been as indebted in our entire history as we have become in the last 10 years.”

Khan announced that he would cut down on his expenses as well as that of the government by reducing the number of staff employed by the prime minister’s office. “I will be staying in a three-bedroom house that served as the military secretary’s house,” he had said. “I will have to keep two of the cars because my intelligence agencies tell me my life is under threat.”