Pakistan Army says defence budget for 2022-23 decreases from 2.8% of the GDP to 2.2%

In an interview with Dunya News TV, army spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar said people often talk about the defence budget but “within the limited resources we are fulfilling all the responsibilities while India has always increased the defence budget”

Director General (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar. (@AnjumAwab/Twitter)

The Pakistan army on Tuesday said contrary to public perception, the defence budget for the 2022-23 has decreased from 2.8 per cent of the GDP to 2.2 per cent.

In an interview with Dunya News TV, army spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar said people often talk about the defence budget but “within the limited resources we are fulfilling all the responsibilities while India has always increased the defence budget”.

He said in real terms, the budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022-23 has decreased after factors such as inflation and rupee depreciation.

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“When you look at inflation and rupee depreciation, it (defence budget) was actually reduced. It was 2.8 per cent of GDP last year and now we are at 2.2 per cent. So the budget is continuously going down in GDP terms,” he said.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Friday allocated Rs 1,523 billion for defence, which makes up 17.5 per cent of the total current expenditure and is 11.16 per cent higher than last year.
The allocation makes up nearly 1.94 per cent of the GDP and 16 per cent of the total expenditure planned by the government for the next year.

In response to a question about former president Pervez Musharraf, the spokesperson said the leadership’s view is that he should return but the decision is up to his family.

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