ISLAMABAD (PTI): Pakistan will spend a record Rs 82.15 billion on defence and Rs 93.17 billion on debt servicing swallowing up nearly 60% of the total budgetary expenditure of Rs 29291 billion for 1992-933.

The Pakistan finance minister Sartaj Aziz said while presenting the 1992-93 budgets in the national assembly May 14 “the difficulty is that two major heads of expenditure defence and debt servicing are equal to our tax and non-tax revenues and nothing is left for other expenditure of government”

According to the budget papers the expenditure on defence increased to Rs 82.15 billion registering a hike of 8.4% over the revised estimates of last year which stood at Rs 75.76 billion. The share of defence in the total current expenditure of Rs218.81 billion will be 37.5%.

The total budgetary deficit for 1992-93 will be Rs 45.39 billion as against Rs 57.47 billion last year. In the new budget defence debt servicing grants and subsidies will account for Rs 192.11 billion comprising 87.8% of the current expenditure.

The remaining 12.2% (or Rs 26.69 billion) will be spent on other functions relating to running of general administration law and order and social community and economic services.

Aziz told the packed lower house that the rate of inflation was estimated between 9.5% and 10% which was lower than last year’s level of 12.7% but higher than the eight percent targeted for the year However opposition leaders: claimed that inflation was higher than what was declared by the government.

Despite growing law and order problems this area has suffered by 3.6% with an overall expenditure of Rs 4.28 billion. The allocation for last year was Rs 4.28 billion. Even the economic services have also been cut by 118% and Rs 1.3 billion earmarked under this head Under the provincial share in federal divisible taxes the province of Punjab would get Rs 32.3 billion Sindh Rs 16.4 billion North West frontiers 7.3 billion and Baluchistan Rs §.7 billion. Reacting to the budget proposals the leader of opposition and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said “this is a rich man’s budget Nothing has) been left to the poor”

Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992