economy in trouble
Dr. Parvez Tahir believes that the country’s government’s budget is completely out of balance and the economy is in big trouble. There is a great need to share the burden on the budget. The total revenue of the government in the first six months of the current financial year was Rs 2,463 billion. More than this revenue i.e. about 2573 billion rupees was spent on interest payment. The most surprising thing is that 639 billion rupees were spent on the defense budget and this was the biggest expenditure.
compared to India
There has always been a debate on Pakistan’s defense expenditure. While defense analysts call it dangerous, the army officers were following the DG’s view that Indian defense expenditure has always been higher than that of Pakistan. Defense budget is generally compared in proportion to GDP. According to World Bank data, Pakistan spent 3.8 per cent on defense in the year 2021 as against India’s 2.7 per cent GDP. Since the year 1960, Pakistan’s GDP has been more than that of India. But the country’s economic experts argue that the balance can be maintained by cutting other expenses without cutting the defense budget.
Projects running at multiple locations
In the meeting held on February 22, the cabinet approved measures to cut 15 percent of the current expenditure of the ministries. There was no cut in the expenditure of the Ministry of External Affairs. Many expressed surprise that the army was spending a huge amount of development money in areas affected by terrorist activities. The ISPR chief spoke of 3,654 schemes in the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These include construction and rehabilitation of markets, educational institutions, hospitals and communication infrastructure. Out of this, about 85 per cent work has been completed.
where will this money come from
The total cost of 162 billion rupees was mentioned. Experts are asking where did this money come from? In Gwadar, where the army is providing security to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, the army chief has been announcing several projects from his budget for the welfare of the local people. If experts are to be believed, an amount as large as Rs 162 billion could not have come from the army’s budget. Under Pakistan’s 7th NFC, Rs 417 billion in counter-terrorism funding has been provided to the KP government since FY2011. Here is perhaps a partial response to the PM who keeps asking about the use of this money.