ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to raise its defence budget by 17 per cent following its conflict last month with India, a boost expected to help Chinese weapons suppliers.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government plans to spend 2.55 trillion rupees (US$9 billion) on defence in the coming fiscal year, according to documents released Tuesday (June 10) by the finance ministry, compared with a revised 2.18 trillion rupees this year.
That’s tipped to be the biggest expense after debt interest payments, part of a budget Sharif is trying to otherwise keep streamlined to meet the requirements of an International Monetary Fund loan programme.
The four-day conflict marked the worst violence in decades between the nuclear armed neighbours, with both sides trading drone and missile strikes. The clash was sparked by an April attack by gunmen that killed 26 civilians in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region. India accused Pakistan of being responsible, which Islamabad denies.
Pakistan hailed the use of the Chinese-made J-10C fighter jet to shoot down six Indian planes, including three French-made Rafale aircraft, prompting a reassessment of Chinese weapons and challenging long-held perceptions of their inferiority to western arms. India has only confirmed that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets.
Pakistan last week said China had offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, as well as HQ-19 ballistic missile defence systems.
Shares of China’s AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Company - the maker of the J-35 stealth fighter, which is the centrepiece of the package - soared by their ten per cent daily limit in Shanghai on Monday, and led a rally across other defence names.
The South Asian nation has been buying the bulk of its arms from China. Imports from the country made up 82 per cent of Pakistan’s stock from 2019-2023, compared to 51 per cent in 2009-2012. - Bloomberg
