ISLAMABAD: The government has increased defence spending for the next financial year 2017-18 by Rs 60 billion to Rs 920 billion.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the fifth budget of incumbent government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with an estimated outlay of Rs 4.778 trillion on Friday.
The minister added that extra 10 percent Zarb-e-Azb allowance for armed personnel.
The allocation for defence is being increased from Rs860 billion for the outgoing fiscal year 2016-17 to Rs 950 billion for upcoming fiscal year 2017-18. The defence budget figure was put at Rs 775.8 billion in fiscal year 2015-16.
Defending its borders against the aggression of negibouring countries i.e. India and Afghanistan, besides eliminating the terrorism are main challenges for Pakistan’s armed forces.
For 2017-18, the Indian government has announced a defence budget of 2.74 trillion Indian rupees (USD40.6 billion). The new budget allocation represents an increase of 5.6 percent against the revised budget for previous fiscal year 2016-17.
