According to a story published in The News on Thursday, the government led by Shehbaz Sharif has suggested raising defense spending in the 2024–25 budget by 17.62% to Rs2.122 trillion.
A significant portion of the defence budget, which is Rs0.815 trillion, would go into employee-related costs including pay and benefits for defence personnel.
The costs incurred in the aforementioned area during the preceding fiscal year 2023–2024 were Rs0.715 trillion.
According to budget records, the defense budget has been increased by Rs0.318 trillion above the previous year’s allocation.
However, the planned rise represents a fall in the defense budget’s percentage of the entire government budget, with defense spending standing at Rs1.8 trillion in the preceding fiscal year 2023–2024.
Defense services were expected to get 12.47% of the entire Rs14.46 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2023–2024; however, this amount has since been lowered to 11.24%.
The 22–25% pay increase for public employees is the reason behind the increase in the defense budget.
