Thread by @peconomist_

PAKISTAN ARMY DEFENSE BUDGET
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Defense Budget remains a subject of frequent criticism & misconceptions leading to ill informed debates on the topic.
 
Let’s conduct a fact check to establish the reality regarding #DefenseBudget, particularly of Pak Army’s share in it.

Does defense budget increases every year? General perception is yes, but the fact is ‘No’, it doesn’t.
 
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a consistent decrement has been observed in Pakistan’s defense budget since 1990s.

Do you know that Pakistan Army’s share in total national budget of Rs 9.5 Trillion is only Rs 724 Billion, which comes to 7.6% only.
 
Wait, there are other interesting facts, yet to come ahead.

Do you know that, of the total registered income tax payers in Pakistan, the army personnel constitute 9.6%, while accounting for only 0.2% of state’s population.
 
Annually, out of Rs 724 Billion, Rs 412 Billion is returned to national exchequer by Pak Army in form of taxes &… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

• Taxes (Direct & Indirect Taxes): Rs 311.4 Billion, this is hard cash back to Kitty.
• Health Sector: Rs 43.3 billion, excellent health services are being provided to millions of citizens.
• Education Sector: Rs 43 Billion, High quality yet affordable education being imparted… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Not only the uniformed personnel but also the civilians paid from Defence Budget return Rs 15.8 Billion to the national exchequer in the form of taxes & other in kind expenditures.
 
So contrary to much hyped propaganda about tax exemption, the fact is that no one is exempted in… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Is this all that Army is contributing economically towards the State? The answer is NO.
 
There is much more to this, commonly not known to general public.

A significant amount is paid in the form of “In Kind Services” including socio-economic cum civic facilities, services,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

..by following organizations and establishments:

• Fauji Foundation (FF)
• Frontier Works Organization (FWO)
• National Logistic Cell (NLC)
• Special Communication Organization (SCO)
• Army Welfare Trust (AWT)

• Education establishments including NUST, NUML, NUMS, FGEI, APSACS & Cadet Colleges etc.

And also the little known fact is that Pak Army has added approximately Rs 130 billion to national exchequer from its defense exports & inland sales over the last 5 years, which is more… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

If we calculate the monitory value of “In Kind Services”  & add them to the amount returned by Pak Army to the State in form of taxes, defense exports, inlands sales & other in kind expenditures, surely it is going to exceed far more than what all is given to the Pak Army as… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

These facts lead us to another interesting conclusion, which in our reckoning must be acknowledged i.e. core duties being performed by the Pak Army for defense of territorial integrity and perpetual employment on Internal Security duties..

..to bring peace & prosperity in the country, are merely free of cost, costing nothing to this nation, nor putting any extra burden on national exchequer.
 
Above all, Army provide direct / indirect employment to more than 6 lac families, saving billions of Rs of the Govt.

These fact checks lead us to a million dollor question, i.e. has incremental reduction in the Defense budget allocation effected the combat potential of our Army?
 
The answer is “NO”.

#DefenseBudget

According to Global Fire Power Index, Pak Army ranks 7th in the world despite the fact that there has been no increment in defense budget over the last five years. (The defense budget was actually reduced by USD 3 billion in 2019).

#DefenseBudget