June 18,
2008: For the first time in over four
decades, Pakistan has released information on its defense spending. The current
years spending is $4.1 billion. That figure explains why this data has been
kept secret for so long. That's because Pakistan's arch-enemy, and neighbor,
India is increasing its defense budget by nearly 50 percent, to $39 billion.
The difference should be no surprise. India has six times the population (at
1.1 billion) and 7.5 times the GDP ($1.1 trillion compared to $145 billion).
India's economy has been booming for over a decade, while Pakistan's largely stagnates.
This military
spending disparity has long been suspected, even with the secrecy. The GPD
differences were well known, as were the details of how the two forces were
equipped. This, of course, is why Pakistan put so much effort into developing
nuclear weapons. Only this would provide a credible defense against a
militarily superior India. Pakistan has been spending about percent of GDP on
defense, while India was long spending two percent (the proposed increase will
make it three percent). The global average is about 2.5 percent.
