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Pakistan on Saturday sharply hiked its defence budget saying it could not be curtailed in the face of military tensions with India.
Presenting the budget for the fiscal July 2002 to June 2003, Finance Minister Shoukat Aziz said that the defence budget had been increased to Rs 146 billion against last year's estimate of Rs 131.6 billion -- an increase of Rs 14.4 billion.
He said the defence allocation could not be curtailed in the name of any economy drive. "Defence is the ultimate need of any sovereign nation," he said.
"Due to tensions on our western borders we could not limit our defence needs," Aziz said.
He also said that the government had fixed a growth rate of Gross Domestic Product at 4.5 per cent against 3.6 per cent this year. He said the inflation rate also would be brought down to 3.9 per cent from around 5 per cent.
Pakistan's defence allocation for the outgoing 2001-2002 was increased to Rs 151.7 billion a few months ago in face of worsening political and military relations with India.
PTI
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