Pakistan’s military modernization it taking a hit, with the government slashing the budget for the Armed Forces Development Program by 72 billion rupees (U.S. $346 million) — a decrease of about 20%.
The move helps meet a demand by the International Monetary Fund that the country achieve a primary budget surplus of 153 billion rupees, or 0.2% of the national output for the new financial year in order to revive an IMF bailout package.
The government allocated 363 billion rupees for the AFDP modernization effort when it presented the fiscal 2022-2023 budget on June 10. The revised AFDP figure — 291 billion rupees — was made public by the Finance Ministry after the National Assembly approved the budget.
Analyst and former Australian defense attache to Islamabad, Brian Cloughley, believes the current economic crisis has left Pakistan with no room to maneuver.
Among other adjustments to the FY22-23 federal budget, the defense fund will now receive an additional 41 billion rupees; operationally speaking, this could help the military as it faces economic inflation.
This the second year the AFDP budget was cut in response to an IMF demand. The FY21-22 budget was cut from 340 billion rupees to 270 rupees.