PM Nawaz Sharif raises Pakistan's defence budget 15 per cent

[ladder]

PM Nawaz Sharif raises Pakistan's defence budget 15 per cent

Pakistan's cash-strapped new government announced a hefty 15 per cent hike in its defence budget to Rs 627 billion, with the powerful army getting the lion's share of the outlay.
Pakistan has traditionally made defence allocations with the objective of maintaining conventional parity with India.

The government increased the allocation for defence in its budget for fiscal 2013-14 to Rs 627 billion (about USD 6.32 billion), marking an increase of little more than 15 per cent over the outlay for the current fiscal.

The allocation for the three defence services amounted to 15.73 per cent of the federal budget of Rs 3.985 trillion for fiscal 2013-14.

The army got the biggest share of the outlay with Rs 301.54 billion. The air force was allocated Rs 131.18 billion while the outlay for the navy was Rs 62.80 billion.

Further details, including allocations for weapons acquisition programmes, were not immediately available.

Official budget documents presented in parliament said a sum of Rs 627 billion had been allocated for the defence services for 2013-14, compared with Rs 545 billion (about 5.82 billion dollars) provided in the fiscal year ending on June 30.

The budget documents further showed that the new PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif had allocated Rs 2300 million for the Defence Production Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14.

Of this amount, Rs 2246.300 million has been allocated for installing a ship lift, transfer system and associated machinery and equipment to provide docking and repair facilities for surface ships, submarines and commercial vessels at Karachi port.

Pakistan's new government led by Nawaz Sharif took office last week and faces big challenges like reducing budget deficit and crippling energy crisis.

The government also earmarked Rs 3545.457 million for the projects of the Defence Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14.

According to the budget documents, Rs 3423.067 was allocated for ongoing schemes while Rs 122.390 was allocated for new schemes. Among ongoing schemes, Rs 2447.600 million was allocated for a complex of the National Electronics Complex of Pakistan in Islamabad while Rs 800 million was allocated for the new Gwadar International Airport.

The government also allocated Rs 52,300 million for ongoing and new projects of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in the Public Sector Development Programme.

Out of this amount, Rs 26,138.00 million is the "foreign component" while Rs 26,162.000 million is in local currency, budget documents said.

Rs 45,352.40 million was earmarked for various ongoing projects of PAEC and Rs 76.163 million for upgrading the infrastructure of KINOPE in Karachi.

Rs 377 million was allocated for the MPB-2 Shanawa uranium mining project in Karak and Rs 300 million for MPS-3 Taussa-2 uranium mining project in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Finance minister Ishaq Dar told the national assembly that the government would clear $5 billion in circular debt from the energy sector within the next 60 days.

"This will greatly help minimise power cuts in the country," Dar said.

However, a crippling financial crunch has forced the government to balance military spending with expenditure on development and welfare programmes.

PM Nawaz Sharif raises Pakistan's defence budget 15 per cent - Indian Express

 

[arnabmit]

Kutto ki lash se nikala hua ghee me tala hua gadhe ka gosht jo naseeb hota tha, ab wo bhi naseeb nehi hoga... Only grass, grass & grass!!!

 

[ladder]

15% hike is huge considering that their economy will grow at rate of 3.5% this year and 4.5% the next.

But Pakistani armed forces have a large unofficial funding and it is not known whether it is increased or not.
Also, the military aid they receive constitute a large portion of their military spending.

The CT-COIN operation are draining them a lot and if they don't receive favorable grant from Uncle Sam then the 15% increase cannot compensate for the costs incurred.

 

[sob]

15% is only for the allocated defence budget. A massive sum has been allocated for the Defence Production Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14. This indirectly means that acquisition of home made/assembled equipment like the JF 17 will be covered under this.

It is also worthwhile to note that significant sums have been targeted for improving the efficiency of the Naval Port and this has been kept out of the Defence Budget.

So all in all the hike is significantly more than 15%.

Is it a peace offering from the new PM to the GHQ Rawalpindi.

 

[ladder]

15% is only for the allocated defence budget. A massive sum has been allocated for the Defence Production Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14. This indirectly means that acquisition of home made/assembled equipment like the JF 17 will be covered under this.

It is also worthwhile to note that significant sums have been targeted for improving the efficiency of the Naval Port and this has been kept out of the Defence Budget.

So all in all the hike is significantly more than 15%.


Is it a peace offering from the new PM to the GHQ Rawalpindi.

The figures mentioned for Defense production Division and Public Sector Development program is in million PKR .
Which comes around 2.3 and 3.5 billion PKR.
Is this sum huge enough?

But budget for Atomic Energy Commission is large.

 

[sob]

On it's own it may not look very big, but this money is very specifically targeted at projects. A detailed look into the Pak budget I am sure will show more such nuggets which are conveniently hidden. We also do this in our budget.

 

[Ray]

That's too little!

More he raises, the more Pakistan gets dependent on foreign nation donors and as it is Pakistan has been sold to the highest bidder!

 

[Blackwater]

No funds for PIA. Any ideas how much allotted to education and health ????


on topic, 15% defence increaser is just eye wash for IMF and WB. Pak army can use wat ever funds they want

 

[rock127]

Poor Pakis trying to match up India even if they had to eat grass.

India should increase it as well at least 5 times in amount so the more they try to match us the more deeper they get into their pit.

 

[farhan_9909]

Because of the continue devalue of rupee from the past 5 years..Defence budget is struck at 6billions

if the rupee value against dollar was still at 66.the budget would be closer to 10billions dollars.

 

[proud_indian]

Because of the continue devalue of rupee from the past 5 years..Defence budget is struck at 6billions

if the rupee value against dollar was still at 66.the budget would be closer to 10billions dollars.

most of your military hardware is of chinese origin, can't u pay them in rupee?

 

[Blackwater]

most of your military hardware is of chinese origin, can't u pay them in rupee?

good Q

 

[DivineHeretic]

To be fair, for a country at war with itself, and paranoid at the prospect of its 'Eternal Enemy', the Pakistani defence budget is remarkably restrained. Of course, no small part is due to the wrecked economy they've gifted themselves.

But that apart, will the budgetary increase allow for the new expensive toys Rawalpindi wants (or needs)?

The 36 J-10Bs (FC-20) that the PAF wants and the 6 AIP SSK Subs the PN wants tops their wishlist, both in terms of expense and need. And even with a 100% increase in defence budget, the Pakistan govt. will find it very difficult to buy them. Unless of course the Chinese deliver another softloan, which is an entirely different matter.

As far an We, India, are concerned, the budget hike means no real enhancement in capability of the Pak tri services. Other than the JF-17, the SAAB and ZDK-03 AWE&C, the IL-78 midas, the F-22p, the A-100 MBRLs, there has been no other major induction in the last five years. And we already know what happened to the SAABs.

The AF will need to find a replacement for the SAABs, and that will consume a good part of the PAF budget. We are already seeing the effects of this on the JF-17 BIIs (open to speculation though).

The longer they stagnate on modernisation, the better for us.

 

[datguy79]

That number is astoundingly small. How much does a Pak soldier earn monthly?

 

[farhan_9909]

That number is astoundingly small. How much does a Pak soldier earn monthly?

they are from development budgets.thanks to mushy

 

[farhan_9909]

Dr farooqi(i hope i have spelled it right) few days before on a talk show said..if the trade deficient is decreased as we see it is about to be decreased.and another bailout package from imf is obtained.the currency value against dollar will reverse back to 90-92pkr against a dollar onwards feb 2014.

 

[farhan_9909]

Pakistan informal GDP is just 10% less than the formal GDP

imagine if pak adds the total informal GDP into formal.

 

[ladder]

Pakistan informal GDP is just 10% less than the formal GDP

imagine if pak adds the total informal GDP into formal.

How does your govt. address the trade deficit mentioned in your previous post?

The parallel underground economy which runs in your country among other reason is because of bad economic policy and avoidance of paying taxes how does your govt. address that?

 

[sayareakd]

can you post figures of Pak Budget ? table of the figures would be great to understand what accounting they did.

 

[datguy79]

Pakistan informal GDP is just 10% less than the formal GDP

imagine if pak adds the total informal GDP into formal.

Or people can start paying taxes, since that is feasible as opposed to trying to quell the underground market which is rampant in countries like Pakistan.