Sayeed Muhammad: Pakistani Finance Minister Miftah Ismail lauded a resurgent economy and announced a big hike in military spending for the next fiscal year. The announcement came on Friday during a chaotic budget session marred by lawmakers’ jeers and scuffles ahead of an expected election, reports Reuters. pposition lawmakers objected to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) presenting a full-year budget so close to the election, likely in July, staging a walkout. Others tried to storm the podium to physically disrupt Ismail’s speech, but were blocked by a human chain of PML-N MPs. Pakistan’s economy has rebounded in recent years owing to a fall in militant violence and vast investments by China that have helped alleviate power shortages. Growth is projected to hit a 13-year high of 5.8% in 2017/2018 (July-June) before accelerating to 6.2% next fiscal year. But a widening current account deficit and dwindling foreign currency reserves have taken some shine off the economic outlook, with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warning of risks to the economy. Ismail said the budget deficit would hit 5.5% for the current fiscal year, missing the government’s fiscal deficit target of 4.1%. He forecast the budget deficit at 4.9 percent of GDP in 2018/2019. A government document put the total budget outlay for 2018/2019 at 5.9 trillion Pakistani rupees ($51.06 billion).
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