Pakistan to Freeze Military Budget as Tensions with India Linger

Nikkei Asian Review

10 June 2019

Ahead of Pakistan’s announcement of its annual budget on Tuesday, the country’s influential armed forces and the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan have promised to rein in military spending for the coming year. The unusual move, likely the first ever, comes as Pakistan prepares the ground for a $6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund aimed at averting a balance of payments crisis. “The Pakistan military also needs a healthy economy, not one which faces financial collapse,” said James Dorsey, a senior fellow at RSIS in Singapore. The IMF loan will involve “steep austerity measures,” Dorsey said, and could create a public backlash.

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