Pakistan is preparing a belt-tightening budget to tame its fiscal deficit, the de facto finance minister said on Saturday, adding that both civilian and military rulers agreed austerity measures were needed to stabilise the economy.

But Hafeez Shaikh, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s top finance adviser, declined to say whether the military’s hefty budget would be cut following last week’s agreement in principle with the IMF for a $6 billion loan. 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 defence spending for fear of stoking tensions with the military.

Unlike some other civilian leaders in Pakistan’s fragile democracy, Khan appears to have good relations with the country’s powerful generals.

More than half of the state spending currently goes on the military and debt-servicing costs, however, limiting the government’s options for reducing expenditure. “The budget that is coming will have austerity, that means that the government’s expenditures will be put at a minimum level,” Shaikh said.