Rs9.5tr Budget FY23: 58% allocations made for debt payment, defence
Economic analysts say the major portion of the budget will be spent on debt and interest payments and defence, with the remaining 42% of spending will be made for the nationals.
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government presented a budget of Rs9,502 billion in the National Assembly (NA) yesterday. 58% of the budget has been earmarked for defence and payment of loans and interest. That is, only 42% of the budget will be spent on the development and prosperity of Pakistan.
The budget for the next financial year 2022-23 was presented by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail in which Rs1,523 has been allocated for defence while Rs3,950 billion has been set aside for debt and interest payments.
Rs3439 billion was allocated for the repayment of internal debts and Rs511 billion has been set aside for the repayment of foreign loans.
In the budget 2022-23, it is proposed to set aside Rs1,523 billion for defence.
Out of Rs1,523 billion, it was recommended to allocate over Rs724 billion for the Pakistan Army, Rs323.71 billion for Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Rs165 billion for Pakistan Navy.
Economic analysts say the major portion of the budget will be spent on debt and interest payments and defence, with the remaining 42% left over for the development and prosperity of Pakistanis who are already facing the menace of inflation and back-to-back crises.
They said the government showed that Rs5 billion was allocated for the Ramadan Package and Rs12 billion for Utility Stores Corporation (USC) which means that a total of Rs17 billion will be distributed to 220 million nationals and each citizen will get a subsidy of Rs77 per year.
Analysts said that Rs293 billion has been allocated for the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).
