Pakistan is currently in debt of 21 lakh 15 thousand crores. Despite this, he wants to increase his defense budget about a quarter. So that the army’s arms reserves could be filled again. Pakistan’s defense budget in 2024-25 was 2 lakh 10 thousand crore rupees. For 2025-26, Pakistan is going to make it 2 lakh 50 thousand crores. The increase in defense budget has occurred at a time when the inflation has crossed 38 per cent and the foreign exchange reserves are below $ 3 billion. Pakistan is still under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program which has asked to reduce non-essential expenses and increase transparency.
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The Pakistani government justified the expenses for security reasons, especially due to recent terrorist attacks in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir and clashes along the border with India. Officials say it was mandatory to increase military preparations due to these incidents. Pakistan’s debt-GDP ratio is around 70%, the trade deficit in 2024 is $ 25 billion and import cover is limited. The $ 7 billion bailout package of the IMF includes strict economic control and experts believe that increasing defense spending will make them more difficult to meet these conditions.
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The Union Budget was introduced late due to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s foreign trip and Eid holidays and it is believed that it was averted due to IMF interaction. The IMF has repeatedly motivated to ban non-essential expenses and increase revenue, but most of the government expenditure is on army and infrastructure projects. A major controversial project is Diamer-Language Dame, a $ 14 billion hydroelectric project in the disputed region of Gilgit-Baltistan. Its purpose is 4,500 MW power generation and 8 million acre feet of water storage; But this project has been halted for years due to financial, technical and geopolitical reasons.
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Economist Dr. Kaiser Bengali warned that giving priority to defense and big projects would cut social expenses and an obstacle in economic reforms, which will affect the common people. The pressure on the public seems to be increasing – the prices of food items are touching the sky, fuel has become expensive and everyday things are getting out of the reach of common people. The salary of government employees has stopped, unemployment is increasing and the budget of education has also decreased. There is a shortage of funds in hospitals, the condition of the schools is bad, the power problem persists, yet billions of rupees are being kept for defense and incomplete projects. Economists warns that keeping military power above improvement can worsen the economic situation-“Every rupee spent on the army is cut in food and drug education.
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