Defence budget up by 18 percent

[Machoman]

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly’s Standing Committee for defence on Thursday approved a defence budget of more than Rs.500 billion for 2011-2012.

The Standing Committee meeting was held at the Parliament House and was chaired by Azra Fazal. Secretary defence and concerned officials participated in the meeting and informed the committee about the defence budget needs.

Upon the pressure of the defence ministry, the media was kept out of the meeting. Later, the committee’s chairperson informed the media that an 18 per cent increase in the defence budget has been approved for the next fiscal year. She stated that the increase was taken into account due to the price hikes in the country.

She stated that the Army and other security agencies were spending a large amount of resources on the war against terrorism and security measures.

 

[VCheng]

Just compare Pakistan and some other countries:

View attachment 8448

 

[Leviza]

i think its a good step, we are in WAR zone and enemy forces are on both sides so we need to spend money now or never....

 

[khurasaan1]

Yes! price hike is too much...so literally there is no increase in defence budget cuz the price hike is almost 18% for this coming year...

 

[Frankenstein]

For me this is a very bad news, what the hell are they thinking

 

[Thorough Pro]

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly’s Standing Committee for defence on Thursday approved a defence budget of more than Rs.500 billion for 2011-2012.

The Standing Committee meeting was held at the Parliament House and was chaired by Azra Fazal. Secretary defence and concerned officials participated in the meeting and informed the committee about the defence budget needs.

Upon the pressure of the defence ministry, the media was kept out of the meeting. Later, the committee’s chairperson informed the media that an 18 per cent increase in the defence budget has been approved for the next fiscal year. She stated that the increase was taken into account due to the price hikes in the country.

She stated that the Army and other security agencies were spending a large amount of resources on the war against terrorism and security measures.

It's too little for our requirements....... Looking at it as a percentage of our GDP it might look significant, but looking at weapon purchasing frenzy going on in our neighbourhood even an increase of 100% would not be sufficient.

 

[VCheng]

It's too little for our requirements....... Looking at it as a percentage of our GDP it might look significant, but looking at weapon purchasing frenzy going on in our neighbourhood even an increase of 100% would not be sufficient.

.... it is already over EIGHT times the budget for education. This a classic case of mortgaging the future of the nation for perceived protection that will be only short lived.

 

[Roybot]

Look at Indonesia's defence and education budgets! Imagine how different things would be if India and Pakistan weren't at each others throat all the time.

 

[Abii]

.... it is already over EIGHT times the budget for education. This a classic case of mortgaging the future of the nation for perceived protection that will be only short lived.

In Iran both education and health care get bigger budgets than the military and people are still screaming that the government is spending too much. This is even more funny considering how Israel, USA and half the Arab world wants to take us out.

I don't understand why Pakistan is spending SO MUCH money on its militaryl. I'm begining to think that the ppl are looking at their military as a source of pride and have given up on everything else. Pakistan has nukes, India has nuke so wtf!!!

Who cares how many guns you have? I rather see an Increase in scientific output and living conditions. With those stuff the econ will get better and guess what, you can buy 10 times more toys for the military in 3 decades.

 

[Thorough Pro]

.... it is already over EIGHT times the budget for education. This a classic case of mortgaging the future of the nation for perceived protection that will be only short lived.

I was only refering to the defence budget with regard to defence spending in the region by hostile states.

Defence budget as a percent of total budget/gpd is exorbitantly high for a country like Pakistan and way more than budget allocation for health, education, and other social welfare sectors, which shoul get a much higher allocation.

 

[Thorough Pro]

Look at Indonesia's defence and education budgets! Imagine how different things would be if India and Pakistan weren't at each others throat all the time.

Unfortunately that is not how the politicians and military establishment thinks on both sides. Compared to Pakistan india is in far better position because of it's much larger economy a small percentage of budget in defence sector puts a lot of pressure and creates a much greater disbalance on Pakistani budget allocation because of smaller economy.

To match 1% increase by India in its defence spending Pakistan has to increase 5 or 6 percent to keep the already fragile balance in $ terms.

 

[Mech]

Good move by pakistan. Hopefully, someone can lobby for an even bigger cut to defence sector.

 

[Prometheus]

Good move by Pakistan

 

[Pfpilot]

This kind of short term thinking always handicaps Pakistan in the long term, a country well placed to have its own economic boom. We should be focusing on the infrastructure which would allow us to create a stable economy that grows over the long term, instead of spending the little bit of money we have on the military. Obviously we have a need for a military, but these hard choices have to be made or we will be stuck in this exact place for the next 50 years. The onus is on the government to divert more funds to things that will have an exponential impact on the long term health of the country, not weapons that provide diminishing returns at the best of times...and are most likely just a form of flexing muscles on a country wide scale. I would love to see a formidable Pakistan military, but it is only relevant if it is a result of a robust economy.

 

[SAUD-404]

Can any one please tell me In US dollars $ terms how much we have increased............is it approx. 6 billion USD?????????