Pakistan finalises defence budget of over Rs 600 bn for 2013-14

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has finalised a defence budget of Rs 627 billion for next financial year.

According to sources, besides normal defence allocations at Rs 627 billion, the defence division will get Rs 4 billion for development programme and unspecified grants as share of disbursements under the coalition support fund and the Pakistan-US strategic cooperation. The defence production division will be given Rs 2.3 billion for development and Rs 587 million for service delivery, reports The Dawn. The government has also set the size of the next year`s budget for service delivery by various ministries and divisions at Rs 278 billion. With sector-wise allocations, the total size of the budget is estimated at about Rs 3.515 trillion against the revised expenditure of the federal government at Rs 3.195 trillion for the current year, showing an increase of about 10 percent or Rs 320 billion. The Finance Ministry wants to complete all formalities relating to the budget and plans to announce federal budget on or around May 31, depending on the completion of political transition. ANI