Pakistan may push to increase its spending on defence Friday’s national budget as border clashes with neighbouring India and Afghanistan mount.
Pakistan’s relations with its neighbours have drastically deteriorated this year.
On Tuesday, India’s military said it hit army posts in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir that it said were providing cover for insurgents planning attacks, a claim that Pakistan’s forces denied.
The nuclear-armed nation has also repeatedly closed its border with Afghanistan following a spate of bombings in February, which Pakistan’s military blamed on insurgents operating inside its neighbour, and after cross-border shots were exchanged between the two country’s armed forces this month.
Pakistan may spend extra in hiking its military power will be necessary as border clashes continue and the need to protect more than $50 billion in Chinese-financed infrastructure projects mean he’s unlikely to push back against requests for more military spending at a time when the economy shows signs of stress.
Despite the economy expanding at a rate of 5.3 percent annually, Pakistan’s current account deficit tripled to $7.3 billion in the ten months through April and its trade gap expanded to $3.2 billion in April, close to lowest level hit a month ago since Bloomberg started compiling data in 2003.
A spending hike may also be needed to fund increased protection for the Chinese infrastructure projects, said Sakib Sherani, chief executive officer of Islamabad-based research company Macroeconomic Insights Ltd.
More troops will be added to a 9,000-strong special force raised to protect Chinese workers, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday, without providing further details.
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