Pakistan will raise defence spending by a steep 20% after a military clash with its old enemy India last month, but will slash overall federal expenditure for fiscal 2025-26 by a hefty 7% to 17.57 trillion rupees ($62 billion).
The budget presented on Tuesday by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government allocated 2.55 trillion rupees ($9 billion) to defence in July-June 2025-26, up from 2.12 trillion.
It projected a deficit of 3.9% of GDP against the 5.9% targeted for 2024-25. Inflation was projected at 7.5% and growth at 4.2%.
But in reality it'll see under 3% growth. They have been projecting higher every year but they don't get even closer to these overhyped projections.
Pakistan’s growth lags far behind the region. In 2024, South Asian countries grew by an average of 5.8% and the Asian Development Bank expects 6.0% in 2025.