Has Anyone Thought of Where Billions of Dollars in Loans Actually Go?

The news is that World Bank has approved a billion dollar loan to Pakistan, and that Pakistani government will be getting this loan anytime now. Or maybe they have already received it, who knows.

World Bank said that loan is to “support the deepening of Pakistan’s economic reforms”, and that’s pretty much all what it said in a statement that was issued for the public.

If we look at stats, Pakistan’s total current external debt has soared to around $70 billion dollars, which by the way was just $34 billions in 2006.

Starting from 2008, the PPPP government took the external debt bill from $42 billion to $65 billion (approximately) and Nawaz Sharif Government, since it took charge in 2013, got few more billion dollars in loans to take the total count to somewhere around $70 billion dollars.

Pakistan_External_Debt

That’s around 40 billion dollars in eight years and it excludes the grants or free giveaways that Pakistan gets from America and other nations.

Now that’s a lot of money, and it should have changed the look of the country. But in reality, as a commoner, I am clueless on how this loan has done any good for us?

I am not even sure that how it’s applied, approved, used or even repaid. Only thing I know is that Pakistan’s economy isn’t getting better, load-shedding for electricity, gas is still ongoing with nothing changing much.

Yes, prices are going up, my bills are rising, cost of living is increasing and everyone around me is thinking of leaving this place at their earliest.

That’s the picture I usually get.

So here are questions that I am leaving for you to think about:

Question 1: How come our external debt doubled in just a few years and there’s no noticeable difference? Did it get misused?

Question 2: All the politicians I see are either liars or corrupt or both, so how come they are given a free hand to decide on how much loans Pakistan must get?

Question 3: On what basis do they decide the amount of debt that Pakistan gets? What changed after 2006 for us to need so much more debt?

Question 4: Who is going to repay this debt that’s not even being used for the development of Pakistan from the lens of a commoner?

Question 5: Is there any body, court or authority in Pakistan that can be activated as a fail-safe when politicians fail to operate? (No, don’t name army. As the joke goes: If given a chance, they will make the entire country a DHA)

Also Read: With $50 Billion Debt Due in 2016, Is Pakistan On the Verge of Bankruptcy?

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


      • Shair ka pait bhi bara hota hai bhai. Is liye yeh fazool question hai k paisa kahan jaraha hai. Is liye sub se requet hai aik aik bar sub laanat bhej k kahien.
        Shairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

        • Hairat ha…Shair ny 5 billion loan lia PPP ny 23 billion, aur aap ka zoor Shair pr nikal raaha ha.. lagta ha Imran ko dhar Sher sy he ha

  • that much money is not been given for nothing. i’m sure when the time comes, these politicians and generals gonn run, and might be already settling their families abroad. the country could be declared defaulted and who’s gonna have a tough time? guess what! We! we’re going to have a tough time (replace tough with something really worse). and then we’ll be not silent but as always all complaining and putting blames on others only. hmhmhm. sooner or later that’s gonna happen. I don’t , in my opinion, expect anything good from this crowd that calls itself a nation.

    • We must understand this and rise… there’s no point of sitting still and doing nothing and letting all this happen before our eyes.

      • I had read a face book post from one PM LN supporter saying that what if PM is corrupt, he is taking my money and I will give him more.
        Do you think that illiterate public having this mentality will ever rise? Impossible, they will finally even sell their sorry to say but mother and sister as well just to give money to thir beloved politicians.

        • As a reporter my job is to raise a question. I have done my part, now its up to them to investigate this further to take it or ignore it.

        • Hairat ha…Shair ny 5 billion loan lia PPP ny 23 billion, aur aap ka zoor Shair pr nikal raaha ha.. lagta ha Imran ko dhar Sher sy he ha………

      • if we protest or question them, its like “bhens ke aage been bajana”.
        they simply ignore everything

      • Unfortunately, not everybody reads propak . heck! not evetybody even has an internet connection!(humour intended) .
        Do you think that these illiterate “shaheed bibi ke jiyaley” , “sher” , “insafians” and “muhajirs” can in their right minds make the right decisions?! They cant even manage to stay united! How can they manage to raise their voice against this disaster we call “politicians” and make the right decisions? To stop caring about their “more-important-than-pakistan” egos and use their minds? This comment section itself was the proof of this ego when the panama leaks were reported.

        Ab Allah hi Pakistan ki hifazat karey. :'(

        • Shukar ha aap ny Raheel Sharif ka naam nahe ly lia ky Raheel Sharif Hifazat karay…Include Generals in this corruption list.

      • Aamir Bhai bhi Aamir Liaquat ki tarah awam ko chay bana rahe ho. Ooper itna bara saboot bhi legaya hua hai aur pooch bhi rahe ho paisa kahan jaraha hai?

  • May be we are selling assests of Pakistan such as mines to get this loan or if we don’t pay we lose our assets

  • Some of dollars goes back to loan interest and import payments. and most of foreign reserve leaks via undocumented movement out of country via illegal shipments etc (mostly done by terrorists illegal businesses and politicians and politicians). And the rest is taken back via multinational companies. They need to convert from PKR to USD.

  • Drastic rise in debt, my goodness… When you have looter gangs like ppp, mind you its not a political party, its an organized gang of looters, what else can you expect. They are unable to at least, at least change their home town Larkana. If they develop and educate their people, they will kick these stupids out. If there is a will everything can be done. Pmln is not that far behind. They all have their vested interests. We are badly encompassed by these vicious creatures. Entire world must be ridiculing how we are being ruled and how this country is being run. Just pray from ALLAH to have us a true leader who will put the country in right direction and get rid of every corrupt person who so ever.

  • Look at the total value of imports and exports to and from
    Pakistan in last few years. Imports are usually 20 billion dollar more in value
    than we manage to export. So we need dollars to pay the import bill and for debt
    servicing. If we don’t like the people ruling our country why we are putting up
    with them? Reduce imports and increase exports to eliminate dependence on lones
    to achieve balance of payment and increase forign reserves. This way our currency
    would also get stronger.

  • Guess what? These lenders are corrupt. Why dont they bother assigning exact and true reason of the loan, break it into installments subject to performance, monitor/audit their loan money and refuse further/future loan(s) in case of significant suspicion or misappropriation?
    PM announced nearly 300bn kisan package. To IMF, he reported that the subsidy (IMF had asked us to quit doing that) was only 30bn and not fully disbursed. The lender shall frown, but never withold the debt tranche because thats how they keep us on leash. They make us beg, and give us just barely enough to let our economy survive on water and air. Havent we seen Greece’s example?

  • Dont Judge PML.-N government from this article. If you look at the curves, There has not been any steep changes in current years like in PPP tenure. Atleast not until Orange Line Construction started..

  • Bhai sub MPs ke shandar ghar chalte hain unki bulletproof cars ati hain plus zed security for some koi mazak thori hai bohot paisa lagta hai aur bhi paisa chahiye koi bhai chanda dena chahe to plz shair :p

  • Aur in recent years mei 3g 4g aur telenor ka recently 4g license be sale hua. ye itni bari amount be swiss bank aur Panama shift ho gai…
    Allah bachaye hmare mulk ko in lutero se (Aameen)

  • Nice article. I wish every Pakistani would stand up and ask these questions. No sitting back until we get proper answers.

  • Curve almost similar to oil prices. But why our debt should not come down as much as the oil prices dropped since 2013.

  • Good questions.

    here is the answer – We need Khilafah!

    Work with Hizb ut Tahrir

  • Yaar muje aik baat ki khushi hai bass, ye corrupt politicians corruption ki inteha ker dein, per at the end ALLAH k insaaf se bhala kase bach sakein ge???

    ALLAH Pak hamarey mulk per karam kare. But ye log jitna ziada lootein ge, utna hi ziada Allah a azaab hoga in k lie. :)

  • ZARDARI Recime took $23 Billion during his tenure he did not give Pakistanis Motorways or Orange train like projects,then where these funs ended up , in Dubai or Swiss A/c a parallel to Panama Leaks ????

  • According this report Zardari Period misappropriated from 2006-2012 $23 Billion (65-42)and onward period present Govt with so many projects from2013 only $5 Billion (70-65). Now why Nisar Hasan kept mum and IMRAN deliberately conceiling this fact ???

    • Hasan Nisar PTI ka tatoooo ha..PTI’s real fear is Nawaz not Zardari. Their hypocrite leader is mum over corruption of Zardari and will never ask above questions to Zardari who took 5 times the loan amount which Nawaz Govt took.


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