Pakistan hikes defence budget by 11 percent

Islamabad, June 4 : Pakistan in its latest budget has raised its defence spending by around 11 percent for the coming financial year as it sought to sustain the recent gains against terrorism.The government for year 2016-17, has allocated Rupees 860.1 billion compared with Rupees 775. 8 billion spent by the three armed forces in the outgoing fiscal year, showing an increase of Rupees 85 billion, reports the Express Tribune. According to defence ministry officials, out of the whole defence budget, Pakistan Army gets 47 percent, 20 percent has been allotted to Pakistan Air Force, while Pakistan Navy’s share is around 10 percent.The budget document informs that out of the Rupees 860.1 billion, Rupees 327 billion have been set aside for employees-related expenses, Rupees 216.1 billion for operating expenses and Rupees 211.7 billion have been earmarked for physical assets.
The military additionally would also be given Rupees 192 billion under the contingent liability and Rupees 100 billion out 170 billion under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).Pakistan’s defence budget for the past four years has shown an average annual increase of 11 percent.According to some officials, the army’s share in the defence budget is around Rupees 390 billion,, which is less than 8 percent of the total national budget outlay.They claim that despite the war on terror, Pakistan’s defence budget actually declined in terms of expansion of the national budget.