Pakistan government proposed record hikes in the expenses of the National Assembly, Senate, and federal cabinet on Tuesday as it presented the budget for fiscal year 2026 before parliament.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had unveiled PKR 17.6 trillion ($62 billion) federal budget for FY26 a day earlier. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government allocated PKR 2.55 trillion ($9 billion) to defense, up from PKR 2.12 trillion.
Shehbaz's administration is aiming for 4.2% GDP growth and a fiscal deficit of 3.9% in line with commitments made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during recent negotiations.
According to the budget documents, a record increase has been proposed in the budget of the National Assembly and the Senate for the next fiscal year 2026, along with an increase in the salaries and allowances of the members of parliament, the Speaker and the Chairman of the Senate.
A 28% increase has been proposed in the budget of the National Assembly for the next financial year. The budget of the National Assembly has been increased to PKR 16.29 billion in this fiscal year from PKR 12.73 billion last year.
A 25% increase has been proposed in the budget of the Senate. The Senate's budget has been kept at PKR 9.55 billion from last year's PKR 7.24 billion.
On the other hand, the budget has proposed to double the ongoing expenses of the federal cabinet. It has been proposed to increase the budget for salaries and allowances of the cabinet from PKR 351.8 million to PKR 688.7 million.
The budget for salaries and allowances of federal ministers and ministers of state is expected to grow from PKR 270 million to PKR 505.4 million.
Salaries and allowances for the prime minister's advisors are planned to increase from PKR 36.1 million to PKR 63.1 million.
The amount earmarked for the prime minister's special assistants is also set for a major jump—from PKR 37 million to PKR 113.4 million.
According to the document, the budget of the Cabinet Division is slated to increase from PKR 333.4 million to PKR 421.59 million.
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