PM Khan appreciates Pakistan military's voluntary stringent cuts in defence expenditures
June 05, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said Tuesday he was very appreciative of the Pakistan military's "unprecedented voluntary initiative of stringent cuts in their defence expenditures" especially in light of the country's financial situation.
Khan said he was grateful for the move that came "despite multiple security challenges" that Pakistan faces.
Khan further added that the funds saved will now be used for the development of the newly-merged tribal areas as well as in Balochistan.
"My govt will spend this money saved on dev of merged tribal areas & Balochistan," he wrote on Twitter.
Adding to the premier's tweet, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said this was "not a small step at all".
"Only a strong Civil-Mily Coordination can rescue Pakistan from the deep problems of Governance and economy," Chaudhry added.
The Army's decision, he said, "shows a complete trust on the leadership of PM by an important institution".
On May 28, the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Information, Firdous Ashiq Awan, had announced that the federal budget was to be presented on June 11.
Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, Awan had said the forthcoming budget — for Fiscal Year 2019-20 — would focus on improving Pakistan's economy as well as foreign debt.
Further, one of the matters deliberated upon was that the common man not be impacted by the budget, the special assistant said, noting that the initial documents pertaining to the budget were pondered upon.
It is to be noted that the development budget for FY18-19 was set at Rs 1.067 trillion, while Defence Affairs and Services was allotted Rs 1.1 trillion.
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