*ISLAMABAD: *The federal government on Friday increased the defence budgetof Rs 1,100 billion as compared to the revised budget of Rs 999 billion inthe 2017-18.
The defence budget comes out to be less than $10 billion while the Indiandefence budget stands at $52 billion thus making Pakistan defence budgetaround less than 20% of its Indian counterpart.
During the special session of National Assembly, the newly-appointedFinance Minister Miftah Ismail said in his budget 2018-19 speech, “Thedefence budget is proposed at Rs.1,100 billion against the revised budgetof Rs.999 billion in the 2017-18.”
According to details, a total of Rs 1,100,334 million has been allocatedfor Defence Affairs and Services. A major chunk of the sum – Rs 1,097,949million – will be spent on defence services.
The government will spend Rs 422,911 million on employee-related expenses.Other allocations include Rs 2,385 million for defence administration, Rs253,467 million for operating expenses, Rs 282,328 million for physicalassets, and Rs 141,293 million for civil works.
It should be noted that the defence budget experienced a 19.5 per centincrease from last year. It is the highest since the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) took over in 2013.