Defence Budget Swells by 24.5% in PTI government
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By Saira Bashir | 13 June 2021 | 4:02 PM
On 11 June 2021, former Minister of Interior Ahsan Iqbal posted a tweet regarding the national budget. Ahsan Iqbal, currently the MNA representing Narowal has a following of 2 million Twitter users and often speaks on the topic of economics. In the tweet Mr. Iqbal made three claims. Every claim has been separately inspected hereinafter.
Claim 1: the national defence budget in the three year tenure of the PTI government remained frozen.
Fact: The defence budget increased by 24.5% compared to PMLN’s tenure
Pakistan’s budget documents show the following figures:
Defence Budget During First three Years of PTI Government & Last Year of PMLN Tenure
| Fiscal Year | Defence Budget (PKR in Billions) |
| 2021-22 | 1370.0 |
| 2020-21 | 1289.134 |
| 2019-20 | 1152.535 |
| 2018-19 | 1100.334 |
From the above data, we can clearly read a percentage increase of 24.5% in the national defense during first three years term of PTI government.
Verdict: False
Claim 2: India has increased its defence budget by 62%.
Fact: The Indian budget has been increased by 22.62%
Indian budget documents show following details:
Defence Budget of India over Last Four Fiscal Years
| Fiscal Year | Defence Budget (INR in billions)(Defence Pension included) | Defence Budget (INR in billions)(Defence Pension excluded) |
| 2021-2022 | 4781.96 | 3623.46 |
| 2020-2021 | 4713.78 | 3375.53 |
| 2019-2020 | 4310.11 | 3189.31 |
| 2018-2019 | 4043.66 | 2955.11 |
Since, in Pakistan Military pensions are mentioned separate from Defence budget a fair comparison will be not to include Defence Pension in Indian Defence budget as well. Considering Defence budget figures without defence pensions, the percentage increase in three years is 22.62%. The expansion in defence budget further decreases to 18.26% in case we consider the figures including defence pensions. However, the only potential justification for former minister’s flawed claim of 60% increase seems to arise from confusion of Defence Pension figures because if you calculate percentage increase between defence budget 2021-22 (including defence pension) and defence budget 2018-19 (excluding defence pension) the increase comes out to be 61.82% which matches former minister’s claim but is misinformed and erroneous.
The image has been taken from 2021-2022 expenditure.pdf document available on the official website of the official website of India i.e. www.indiabudget.gov.in
From the data above, a percentage of increase in India’s national defence budget from 2018-19 to 2021-22 comes out to be 22.62%. This conclusion negates the Former Minister’s second claim.
Verdict: False
Claim 3: PMLN government increased the defence budget in their three initial years by 40 %.
Fact: PMLN increased the national defence budget by 37% in their initial three years
Pakistan budget archives available on www.finance.gov.pk reflect following numbers:
Defence Budget During First three Years of PMLN Government & Last Year of PPP Tenure
| Fiscal Year | Defence Budget (PKR in Billions) |
| 2016-17 | 860.169 |
| 2015-16 | 781.162 |
| 2014-15 | 700.148 |
| 2013-14 | 627.226 |
The Budget Figures haves been obtained from Budget documents of respective Fiscal years available on the official website of the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan i.e. www.finance.gov.pk
The image has been taken from Budget_in_Brief_2016-17.pdf document available on the official website of the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan i.e. www.finance.gov.pk
From the data above, a Percentage increase in the budget from the 1st three years of PMLN last regime is 37.1%. so the 3rd claim with a little approximation is also verified.
Verdict: True
Disclaimer: All the figures related to Pakistan’s Defence Budget have been taken from budget documents available on the official website of the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan i.e. www.finance.gov.pk. Whereas Indian budget information is gathered from official website of India i.e. www.indiabudget.gov.in.
Summary: Mr. Iqbal’s claim about PTI of keeping defence budget stagnant in last three years, is false unless someone comes up with a mathematical rule which approximates 24.5% increase to 0%. Second claim of Former Minister about India’s surge in defence budget by 62% during the same period is proven to be false. However, the third claim about PMLN’s increase in defence budget by 40% during 1st three years of its last tenure, turn out to be true (almost/approximately true, though).
Mr. Iqbal’s claim about PTI of keeping defence budget stagnant in last three years, is false unless someone comes up with a mathematical rule which approximates 24.5% increase to 0%. Second claim of Former Minister about India’s surge in defence budget by 62% during the same period is proven to be false. However, the third claim about PMLN’s increase in defence budget by 40% during 1st three years of its last tenure, turn out to be true (almost/approximately true, though).
