Economic Independence Or Optics? Pakistan Claims $8 Billion Defence Exports, Signals IMF Exit

Last Updated:January 07, 2026, 14:29 IST

Intelligence sources say Pakistan army is leveraging fake claims of success from Operation Sindoor to claim a strategic victory and regain political ground at home.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif (Image: AP/file)

Pakistan’s defence establishment has launched an aggressive narrative push, projecting military exports and arms deals as a pathway to economic self-reliance and even a potential exit from the Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The claims, led publicly by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, come amid sustained economic stress and growing domestic criticism of the Pakistan Army’s political role.

According to senior defence sources, Pakistan has secured an estimated $8 billion worth of defence export contracts and MoUs in 2025, involving countries such as Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Nigeria and Iraq, with Libya-linked deals routed through the UAE. The Pakistan Military-Industrial Complex is being projected as a major foreign exchange earner, with officials asserting that timely delivery of weapons systems could allow Islamabad to “write off" IMF loans.

The defence minister has claimed that Pakistan is mass-producing JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, armed drones, air defence systems with radars, tanks, rockets, mortar shells and short- to medium-range missiles, adding that “tested and proven" platforms are driving global demand. Pakistan has also reportedly supplied arms and ammunition to Ukraine through Western intermediary channels, including the US and European partners, though these transfers remain officially unacknowledged.

Khawaja Asif has linked these claims to Pakistan’s posture during the May 2025 India-Pakistan military confrontation, asserting that Pakistan’s “resolve and capabilities" were demonstrated during the conflict. He went further, alleging that the confrontation damaged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s credibility and that India sought US and Chinese mediation for a ceasefire — assertions not corroborated by independent sources.

Indian intelligence sources, however, view this narrative as largely strategic signalling rather than economic reality. According to top intelligence inputs, Pakistan is attempting to project defence exports as an alternative foreign exchange stream to offset chronic balance-of-payments pressure, while reinforcing domestic legitimacy for the army amid an entrenched anti-military narrative driven by former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The emphasis on arms exports and “self-sufficiency" is also seen as an effort to consolidate public opinion under Pakistan’s civil-military hybrid governance model. Intelligence officials argue that the army is leveraging fake claims of success from “Operation Sindoor" to claim a strategic victory and regain political ground at home.

While Pakistan’s defence manufacturing base has expanded, analysts caution that MoUs do not automatically translate into realised revenue, and arms exports alone are unlikely to replace IMF support in the near term. The narrative, they suggest, is aimed as much at domestic consumption as at international audiences.

News world Economic Independence Or Optics? Pakistan Claims $8 Billion Defence Exports, Signals IMF Exit

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