Islamabad: Pakistan finance minister Miftah Ismail announced a big hike in military spending for the next fiscal year in a chaotic budget session marred by lawmakers’ jeers and scuffles ahead of an expected election. Opposition lawmakers objected to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) presenting a full-year budget so close to the election, likely in July, and staged a walkout. Others tried to storm the podium to physically disrupt Ismail’s speech, but were blocked by a human chain of PML-N parliamentarians.
Pakistan’s economy has rebounded in recent years due to a drop in militant violence and vast investments by China that have helped alleviate power shortages. Growth is projected to hit a 13-year high of 5.8% in 2017/2018 (July-June) before accelerating to 6.2% next fiscal year.
A government document put the total budget outlay for 2018/2019 at 5.9 trillion Pakistani rupees ($51.06 billion). Ismail also set aside 1.1 trillion Pakistani rupees for the defence budget, increasing it by about 20% from the 920 million that the government had budgeted for the military to spend. Revised figures from a budget document suggest military spending will hit 1 trillion this year anyway.
The US has announced a suspension of military assistance to Pakistan totalling about $2 billion, though it was not clear whether this was why Pakistan’s military budget exceeded its planned outlay. Washington suspended the assistance due to claims that Islamabad was either assisting or turning a blind eye to Islamist militants who use Pakistan’s soil as a launchpad for attacks in Afghanistan.
