Govt approves Rs2,128 billion defence budget

The lawmakers in the National Assembly on Wednesday approved the defence budget of Rs2.12 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2024-25).

The financial bill for the upcoming fiscal year was presented by Finance Czar Muhammad Aurangzeb on June 12. 

He presented his first federal budget with an outlay of Rs18.9 trillion, which was being approved in the lower house section by section for two weeks.

During two weeks, the members of the lower house accepted demands from different ministries and divisions, including Rs2,128 billion for the defence ministry.

Besides this, Rs18.32 billion for the intelligence bureau, Rs1.36 billion for district courts in Islamabad and Rs26.193 billion for the aviation department were approved by lawmakers.

The elected representatives also gave the go-ahead to over Rs7 billion for climate change, over Rs22 billion for the Ministry of Commerce, and more than Rs65 billion for the communication division.

The National Assembly also showed a consensus on accepting the budget of Rs4.87 billion for the production of weapons.

The allocation for the armed forces was set at 1.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). It has declined by 0.3 percent compared to the previous years. 

In 2022-23, the armed forces's spending was around 2% of GDP.

However, the amounts of Rs662 billion allocated for pensions of retired military officers and Rs402 billion for the armed forces development programme were not included in the budget.

Last year, Rs1.57tr was allocated for defence affairs and services. However, it was later revised higher to Rs1.59tr.

In the fiscal year 2021-22, the size of Pakistan's defense expenditure was Rs1.412 trillion, the IMF informed.

The defence budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 was Rs1.316 trillion and Rs1.213 trillion and Rs1.147 for 2018-19 and 2017-2018, respectively.