Defence budget sees a 13pc hike, reserved amount reaches 1.804tr
Business
Army gets the largest share
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – The government went for an around 13 per cent increase in the defence budget, raising the outlay to Rs1.804 trillion for the fiscal year 2023-24 against an amount of Rs1.570tr reserved 2022-23.
Initially, the allocations made for the defence sector last year stood at Rs1.590tr but was later upward to Rs1.59tr.
Hence, the total allocations for defence is approximately 1.7pc of the GDP and 12.5pc of the total government expenditure planned for the next year.
It is the Pakistan Army which got the biggest share of Rs824.6 billion of the total budget while the air force received Rs368.5bn and the navy Rs188.2bn.
Although the pension of military personnel isn’t part of the defence budget, the amount reserved for this purpose is Rs563bn – a 26pc increase when compared with the last year’s sum of Rs446bn. However, the salaries [both of those in uniform and the civilians serving under military in different departments] are included in this amount.
