Pakistan

Defence spending goes up to Rs781 billion after 11% hike

Army will get 47%, air force 20% and navy 10%

Kamran Yousaf June 06, 2015

PHOTOS: AFP & INP

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan announced on Friday an 11% hike in defence spending for the fiscal year starting July 1 keeping in view its ongoing fight against terrorism and the hostile stance adopted by arch nemesis India.

The defence budget has been jacked up to Rs781.2 billion for the fiscal 2015-16 – an increase of Rs81 billion from the Rs700.2 billion allocated in the outgoing financial year. The actual increase in defence expenditure is about 8% or Rs63 billion when compared to the revised figures of Rs720 billion for 2014-15.

While the budget document presented in parliament did not give a force-specific break-up, defence ministry officials said the Pakistan Army would get 47% of the total outlay while 20% would go to the air force and 10% to the navy.

Out of the total Rs781.2 billion, Rs326 billion has been set aside for employee-related expenses, Rs200.6 billion as operating expenses and Rs169.6 billion has been earmarked for physical assets. However, these figures do not include the Rs174 billion allocated in the national budget for pensions of retired military personnel and another separate portion for security-related expenses.

In addition to this, the military will also get Rs180 billion under the contingent liability head and Rs92 billion out of the Rs154 billion reserved under the Coalition Support Fund that Pakistan gets from the United States for its counterterrorism efforts.

‘Lowest’ in the region

Pakistan raises its defence spending every year because of its historically uneasy relations with India, which earlier this year also boosted its annual military spending by 11%.

Military officials defended the latest increase insisting that Pakistan military’s expanses were the lowest in the region given the volatile security environment.

A defence ministry source explained that Rs781.2 billion set aside in the national budget for the military was reserved for all the armed forces, including strategic forces and civil armed forces.

“The army’s share comes to only about 7.9% (Rs371 billion) from the total national budget outlay,” he said, claiming that despite the ongoing war against insurgents, Pakistan’s defence budget had actually declined in terms of expansion of the national budget.

Last year, the Pakistan Army was allocated Rs 331.412 billion and about 94% of it was spent on non-development expenses like salaries and allowances. Only 6% or Rs19.88 billion were left for the development sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (44)

Tania | 8 years ago | Reply What kind of an equation which sets in between two nuclear but neighboring states Pakistan and India is much apparent and obvious in front of the whole world? South Asia is largely dominated with security dilemma which gets dissolved with tit for tat strategy. The increase in defence budget of Pakistan is an indication that Pakistanis are not going to make any kind of compromise regarding its defense compulsions. This should be appreciated that Pakistan maintained its statehood sovereignty and territorial integrity against frequent threats coming from Eastern neighborhood. Pakistan stands with dignitary and honor despite of many intentional efforts in shape hostile attacks which always been successfully countered.

AA | 8 years ago | Reply @John D'Souza: Firstly the Chinese investment will not be one shot. Secondly, it is in USD, not PKR, you genius!!!

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Rabia | 8 years ago | Reply We should double the budget for Armed Forces. Pakistan army deserves more than that. It is because of them we are in this wonderful position.

M H Mian | 8 years ago | Reply @ Ashwani and @ globalobserver . Thanks for your concern in comparisons to neighboring countries. But the sole reason of military spending by Pakistan is India. 2.5 % of 2.3 trillion dollars is more than the entire military budget of Pakistan. more than 3/4th of that budgeted armed forces are practically deployed on Pakistan border and had 3 wars with Pakistan. Blaming somebody of keeping more budget in terms of GDP RATIO is actually funny when you can clearly see that in actual terms the difference is in multiples in favor of India. EVEN if it was 10% of GDP of Pakistan it is actually a fraction of Indian military Budget.( practically it is less than the amount given in 2003 budget ). Being in a continuous state of war for 15 years , being under attack by Indian Intelligence agencies ( as accepted openly by Indian military/ministers/ media ) , it is more of a war budget than anything else. Poor Indians cant just absorb the fact that even with a war budget the Pakistanis have better growth opportunities , maintaining the ability to fight a two front war ( Which India can keep dreaming of ) , massive foreign investments , a political stature that influences many influential countries and better living standards to those of average INDIANS ( especially if you want to compare in RATIOS to population and spending ). be real Have Fun

Ashwani | 8 years ago | Reply Sir India can support big budget on the basis of its faster and much bigger economy. Indias economy is 2.3 trillion dollars.Pakistan's economy is 250 billion dollars. You can check these figures in wkpedia. Yet , Pakistan's defense spending to GDP ratio,is higher than India.

Tyggar | 8 years ago | Reply @Faizan Maqbool: Maybe it's time you noticed China does not give "freebies" without exacting much more

JSM | 8 years ago | Reply @Faizan Maqbool: I understand there are no freebies from China- everything is a loan. Enjoy.

Yasso | 8 years ago | Reply This hike is meager when we look at Pak Army's engagements in various zones of conflicts. Its engaged in a long war against terror. It has to deal with fragile border security and it has to maintain pace with Indian military modernization which is far greater than us with more than $40 billion.

Faizan Maqbool | 8 years ago | Reply @Jim: Don't worry, India boy, there are a lot of freebies coming from China as well Stew in it !

Assad | 8 years ago | Reply @John D'Souza: Are you high on something? There is a difference between Rs 80B and USD 45B. Understand the difference before posting.

Assad | 8 years ago | Reply @wb: You keep dreaming about Pakistan imploding. You have been doing so since Pakistan was created in 1947. The more you stick your finger in our business, the more incidents like the violence in IOK and Nagaland.

Assad | 8 years ago | Reply @Indian: Mind your business. We will spend on our defence what we feel is appropriate. For a change, why don't you offer the same advice to your own citizens? Hypocrite!

SEAsian | 8 years ago | Reply Feed the hundreds of thousands of people dying of hunger and thirst in Tharparkar and Balochistan. Before you can build toilets, build a drainage system first and then arrange for water. Toilets come much later. Maybe after 10 years of development, you can consider building toilets.

Zahid | 8 years ago | Reply Our arms forces need more funds to defend our great country Pakistan We are all allowed our money to defend Pakistan

Fahad Javaid | 8 years ago | Reply I don't get it why everyone is going nuts over these issues. Have they ignored the cost of debt restructuring and repayment which is almost double the army expenditure. If army is stepping up against terrorism and that is for the general populace. Why no one speaks about our tax to GDP ratio, corruption and other ills why army is being hammered. Have we become blind enough that rather highlighting issues which require our attention we are fighting here.

globalobserver | 8 years ago | Reply "Military officials defended the latest increase insisting that Pakistan military’s expanses were the lowest in the region given the volatile security environment." That is not true. Pakistan spends much higher than any nation in the region for defense as a ration to GDP. Pakistan's official defense spending to GDP ratio is over 4%. This doesn't include the $3B annual spending on nuclear weapons, military pensions, debt servicing due to military equipment acquisition etc. Also, the true GDP number has been falsely inflated especially during Musharraf''s era. Thus, allowing for all defense expenses and the true GDP numbers, the defense spending to GDP ratio for Pakistan is close to 10%. In comparison, India spends 2.5%. Bangladesh 1.3%, Afghanistan 1.9%, Sri Lanka 2.5%, Nepal 1.6%, and Bhutan 1.0%

Khurram S | 8 years ago | Reply The increase in Defence Budget is justified. We surely don't want to become Syria or Ukraine.

ABKhan | 8 years ago | Reply Look at the Indian losers. How interested are they in Pakistani news, of course in their country their is no other news except gang rapes

Kam | 8 years ago | Reply No security no economic growth. All major economic powers have big defence budgets even when there is no cold war and terrorists dont have navies and airforces.

MSS | 8 years ago | Reply @John D'Souza, Your currency is mixed up. 46billion Chinese money is US dollars not Pakistani Rupees. 11% increase is way above the GDP growth and inflation but in Pakistan, army dictates the budget allocations. Now the anti India Rhetoric will come down.

Hussain | 8 years ago | Reply @S.R.H. Hashmi: Inflation has fallen to 4% according to the government's own economic survey. This increase is totally unjustified. If anything they should reduce the defence budget. We are bankrupting ourselves. Our social indicators are the worst in the region. All those pointing to India should ask themselves which country has a higher literacy rate?

Parvezr | 8 years ago | Reply A political government never says no to military spending......it's called self-preservation.

Raj - USA | 8 years ago | Reply The budgetary allocation for providing security to leaders and politicians has also gone up. If there are less number of guns with the public, political parties and madrassas, these leaders and politicians may not require that much security and the allocation for their security expenses could be reduced. The army is also spending a good chunk of their allocation to fight the armed population inside their country and not external enemies.

raider | 8 years ago | Reply @Ch. Allah Daad: pmln s noora is also defending here money launderers and killers as well against army, not bewildered me,

Ch. Allah Daad | 8 years ago | Reply We would love to give more to our armed forces but problem is that more we give them, more they interfere in politics and policy making. This problem could be solved by allocating a fixed percentage of GDP to armed forced so that increase in GDP will increase their share and vice versa. Once this step is taken, they would think twice before supporting anarchists, fake revolutionary thugs and their favourite terrorists. They would know that any disturbance in economy activity will result less money for them too.

S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply Considering the fact that inflation during the last year has been much more than the nominal 11 percent increase in the defence budget, the money made available for defence in real terms would work out to be less than last year. And surely during the last year, the area of responsibility and the work actually done by the armed forces has not decreased but rather increased because many of the jobs that are basically the responsibility of the civilian government, and which it can’t discharge because of inefficiency or short strength, or sum total of the two, have to be done by the armed forces. So there is no need to lash at the defence personnel for taking out a big chunk from the national resources and not leaving enough for education, health or other essential public services. If these sectors are In a deplorable state, it is because they are none of the government’s priority, and whatever little gets allocated to these sectors is devoured by the endemic corruption there. Karachi

Insaaf | 8 years ago | Reply Strength of a country comes not from its military (eg N Korea, a failed state) but from its economy, services and infrastructure (eg S Korea). You can see which way Pakistan is going, much to the delight of India.

Blithe | 8 years ago | Reply @Raj - USA: Stop misleading . PKR has been the best performing currency in Asia .inflation is at record lows . Yes, defense budget should be curtailed as we now have nuclear deterrent .

JSM | 8 years ago | Reply Modi is succeeding.

Umar | 8 years ago | Reply People cry and whine about so-called militancy and terrorist act of violence by Talibans but what about this economic terrorism against poor people of Pakistan, can a poor Pakistani people support and sustain such massive budget for this incompetent army? while poor people of Pakistan are dying of hunger and misery in Pakistan? is this not plain economic terrorism and extortion?

ABZ | 8 years ago | Reply @wb "We just need to keep increasing our defense budget only very very slightly (clearly much less than our national GDP 7%)" Yeah please do keep spending on weapons. Your speculator record below clearly justifies it: 50% of Indians don’t have proper shelter; 70% don’t have access to decent toilets (which inspires a multitude of bacteria to host their own disease party); 35% of households don’t have a nearby water source; 85% of villages don’t have a secondary school (how can this be the same government claiming 9% annual growth?); Over 40% of these same villages don’t have proper roads connecting them Source: http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-india.html

ABZ | 8 years ago | Reply @ Bhuttani "Has Pakistan’s GDP also gone up by 11% during the preceding year?" The military growth is measured on the basis of increase/decrease over the previous year and not in terms of GDP. Can you please reference any studies stating that the military spending growth cannot more than the GDP?

Obaid | 8 years ago | Reply Actually there have been studies showing that military spending prompted by external threats is positively related to economic growth. Unfortunately the usual Indian audience are too blinding by ant-Pakistan rhetoric to make informed comments .

V. C. Bhutani | 8 years ago | Reply Has Pakistan's GDP also gone up by 11% during the preceding year?

Atif | 8 years ago | Reply More victims for the ever growing army of the damned

Atif | 8 years ago | Reply The UN and US must be needing more mercenaries

Devasis | 8 years ago | Reply Sad really sad. Why are health,education,child development getting enough attention in all these poor countries? In future if there are any wars there will never be a victor or vanquished.

Farzan | 8 years ago | Reply Before criticizing the defense budget, one should go and check the cost of Metro Bus projects. The cost of Metro Bus ISB-RWP is somewhere over 5.7% of total defense budget.

John D'Souza | 8 years ago | Reply As per this report, the defense budget has increased by 81 billions rupees in this year. This has more or less eaten up all the 46 billion investment made by the Chinese recently in Pakistan. This is truly a 'Chanakyan' idea by the RAW and CIA.

Suleman | 8 years ago | Reply The defense budget of Rs: 780 billion is US$ 7.75 billion is comparatively small or rather moderate. Had Pakistani Army had joined the Saudi Coalation on Yemen War, we could have earned 30 - 40% ($ 2-3 billion) of the total Defense budget in the form of Foreign Exchange for Pakistan. If our forces are engaged in fighting local war on terror, we have huge un-enmplyoment, and could have hired a new batch of 20 to 30 thousand people in the army and have made indepth strategic entry with the oil rich GCC countires. Pakistan has missed one of the biggest opportunites to further uplift the country's economy. We could have made inflow of two CFS simaltenously working for the exchequer! What a pity! Pakistan is run by Senseless people. Sell what you have.

wb | 8 years ago | Reply This is fantastic news for India. Clear signs that Pakistan is imploding and soon break up. We just need to keep increasing our defense budget only very very slightly (clearly much less than our national GDP 7%). That's enough to give seizures to Pakistan and they'll divert money from education, health, infra into military. This is brilliant strategy of fear-psychosis. Like USSR, they will collapse without us doing anything.

Jim | 8 years ago | Reply Congratulations, Pak Army! So just before budget allocation, raise the bogey of Indian aggression, RAW infiltration etc so that you can swipe a few more billions out of the pocket of poor Pakistanis and take the food of their table to fatten yourself. Well done.

Indian | 8 years ago | Reply Congratulations to Pakistan good going ,keep it up.Pakistan should spend not less then 55-65% of total budget on defenses this will bring prosperity in Pakistan otherwise the picture is gloomy.

Raj - USA | 8 years ago | Reply Considering inflation, depreciation in the value of Pakistani Rupee and the present situation, this increase in defense spending is very moderate and justified.

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