Pakistan's powerful military has agreed in a rare move to cut its hefty budget for a year to help ease the South Asian country's "critical financial situation," Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
Pakistan has struck an agreement in principle with the International Monetary Fund for a $6 billion loan but Islamabad is expected to put in place measures to rein in a ballooning fiscal and current account deficits to get access to the funds.
The IMF has said the primary budget deficit should be trimmed by the equivalent of $5 billion, but previous civilian rulers have rarely dared to trim defense spending for fear of stoking tension with the military.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.