In the shadow of the recent India-Pakistan military clashes, defense spending has been increased by 20 percent since last year.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan Tuesday hiked defense spending by 20% following last month’s deadly conflict with India. The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the increase as part of the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, in which overall spending will be cut by 7% to 17.57 trillion rupees ($62 billion).

Defending the meteoric rise in defence budget, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in the National Assembly in the most unambiguous words that the increase is necessary after 4-day skirmishes with India and terrorism in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.