Pakistan’s leading economists have pointed to a variety of myths and evidence regarding Pakistan’s defense budget. Economist and financial analyst Farrukh Saleem said the first fallacy is that the military budget takes up the lion’s share of the country’s overall budgetary spending.
“In the 2020-21 budget, Rs1.289 billion of the overall discretionary spending of Rs7.295 billion has been allocated to ‘Defence Affairs and Services.’ What this means is that defense accounts for 17.67 percent of overall spending and 82.33 percent of all government expenditure are not related to the defence“, he explained.
He said the second fallacy is that Pakistan Army is taking away the lion’s share of the overall defense budget. “Pakistan Army earns Rs613 billion (47.6%), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Rs274 billion (21%), Pakistan Navy Rs140 billion (11%), and Inter-Services Rs262 billion (20%)” he stated.
In the media, disinformation about the defense budget allocations and benefits available to them is disseminated,’ he said. “The greatest burden on the national exchange is debt servicing that has increased monstrosity since 2008 due to the mistaken economic and fiscal policies of democratic regimes”, he added.
He said all armed forces officers with taxable income pay income tax which is deducted for all ranks at the source. He added that if the official residence is reserved, house rent is deducted from officers, or from all forces.
He also said that the Army Welfare Trust (AWT) as a commercial organization is self-governing and generates funds through various companies, and then taxes are deposited in the treasury of the government.
Extracted from City42 News
