Pak govt hikes defence budget by 10 per cent

The Pakistan government today hiked the country's defence spending by nearly 10 per cent as it presented an over Rs 5.6 trillion federal budget in parliament for the next financial year.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presented the budget for the financial year 2018-19, which is the sixth consecutive budget of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Ismail said that total outlay of the budget is Rs 5,661 billion (5.6 trillion), 13 per cent higher than the previous.

He said 6.2 per cent was the GDP target for 2018-19 against six per cent for the outgoing year, which could not be achieved as the government registered 5.8 per cent.

The minister said the budget deficit for the upcoming year will be 4.9 per cent of GDP and the target net public debt to GDP ratio will be 63.2 per cent.

He said the "defence budget has been increased from Rs 999 billion to Rs 1,100 billion for fiscal year 2018-19".

The overall size of national development outlay for the next financial year is Rs 2,043 billion, with a foreign assistance component of Rs 339 billion.

The size of the federal public sector development programme is Rs 1,030 billion, while that of provincial annual development plans is Rs 1,013 billion.

He set a Rs 4,435 billon target for tax collection in the next fiscal year while announcing major tax relief for low income groups. The tax collection for outgoing fiscal was around Rs 3,900 billion.

He said 12,230 MW of electricity was added to the national grid in the last five years.

Talking about the expansion in the economy he said, "Due to high economic growth in the last five years, the size of the economy has increased unusually. It has risen from Rs 22,385 billion in 2013 to Rs 34,396 billion in 2018. The per capita income during this time has risen from Rs 129,005 to Rs 180,204".