Pakistan hikes defence budget by 10 per cent

Islamabad: Pakistan has increased its defence budget by nearly 10 per cent to Rs 54,500 crore ($5.8 billion) for the 2012-13 fiscal year. The government had earmarked Rs 49,500 crore in the 2011-12 fiscal year. However, the actual expenditure was Rs 50,932 crore.

The current allocation amounted to 18.4 per cent of Pakistan's total budget outlay of Rs 2,96,000 crore for the fiscal July 2012 to June 2013, Xinhua reported.

The Pakistan government has traditionally made defence allocations with the objective of maintaining conventional parity with India. However, a financial crunch has forced it to balance military spending and expenditure on development and welfare programmes.

The current allocation amounted to 18.4 per cent of Pakistan\'s total budget outlay.

The decrease in US aid has affected the defence budget, analysts said.

Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh presented the budget on Friday in Parliament.

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