Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told parliament the government would allocate 3 trillion rupees for defence in the fiscal year starting July, up 18% from the outgoing year, while setting federal development spending at 1 trillion rupees.

Overall development outlay slashed by 25pc to Rs3.218tr; no new projects except for interior, defence ministries; federal PSDP reduced to Rs1tr.

Registered businesses and workers face higher taxes, while agriculture, real estate remain difficult to tax

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told parliament the government would allocate 3 trillion rupees for defence in the fiscal year starting July, up 18% from the outgoing year,…