Lahore
\nPlanning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that Pakistan will raise its defence budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26 keeping in view the recent escalation with India and New Delhi suspending a key river water-sharing treaty with Islamabad.
\nEarlier this month, the minister had announced that the federal budget would be presented on June 2, however, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad said yesterday that the budget would be presented on June 10, while the Pakistan Economic Survey would be released a day earlier.
\nMeeting a delegation at the Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP) in Lahore, led by IEP Secretary General Engr Ameer Zameer, the planning minister told reporters that the budget had not been delayed due to any pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but because of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s upcoming visit to friendly nations and the Eidul Azha holidays.
\n\u201cWe had very good negotiations with the IMF,\u201d Iqbal said. \u201cAs you\u2019ve seen, they acknowledged our government\u2019s efforts. The main reason behind the delay is the PM\u2019s five-day visit to friendly countries \u2026 and Eid after that.
\n\u201cWe decided to present the budget after Eid so that we can easily convene a meeting of parliament afterwards,\u201d he added.
\nIqbal said that the government wants to minimise the burden on the general public, but noted that defence spending would increase to protect Pakistan\u2019s sovereignty.
\n\u201cIt is our national duty to provide the armed forces with whatever they need in this budget to bolster their capacity and defend our country in the future,\u201d the minister said. \u201cIt has been proven that we have a dangerous neighbour (India) who attacked us in the night, but we gave them a befitting response.\u201d
\nHe added that the country must \u201cremain ready to respond if they attack again\u201d.
\nSpeaking about Pakistani water security, Iqbal said that the country will fast-track water projects, including the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams.
\n\u201cWe are prioritising them so that Pakistani water is secure,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe PM has sent over a thousand agricultural engineers to China for training, who will complete their training this year and bring about an agricultural Green Revolution 2.0,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe aim to develop our own seeds and modernise our dairy and livestock sectors.\u201d
\nIqbal added that within the budget, funding has been allocated for an internship for engineers. \u201cThousands of young engineers across the country will be able to receive on-the-job training so that they receive better job opportunities in the market.\u201d
\nHowever, he stated that Pakistan would only have a development budget of Rs1 trillion to do all of this.
\n\u201cOur ministers required Rs3tr to complete our ongoing projects. But, because of this shortfall, we are putting a cap on low-priority projects and will try to complete our high-priority projects as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lahore Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday said that Pakistan will raise its defence budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26 keeping in view the recent escalation with India and New Delhi suspending a key river water-sharing treaty with Islamabad. Earlier this month, the minister had announced that the federal budget would be presented on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-480548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n