Pakistan’s foreign debt came in at $2.376 billion in July and August of the current fiscal year, according to data released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
This compares with the country’s total budgeted external loans of $14.088 billion for FY 2022.
Meanwhile, Pakistan incurred a foreign debt of $2.248 billion, including $149 million from foreign commercial banks, against the budgeted amount of $12.233 billion in the first two months of FY 2021.
The total $2.376 billion is made up of $879.40 million from multilateral sources, $91.90 million is from bilateral sources, $363.26 million is from foreign commercial banks, and $1.041 billion is from issuance of bonds.
The $363.26 million borrowed from foreign commercial banks, includes $215 million from Dubai Bank, $87.26 million from SCB (London), and $61 million from Ajman Bank PJSC.
The government also borrowed $879.40 million from multilateral partners, among which the Asian Development Bank provided $280.73 million, the World Bank disbursed $142.37 million, the AIIB gave it $37.77 million, and the IDB (S-Term) loaned $413.21 million.
From among Pakistan’s bilateral partners, China lent it $73.35 million, the USA lent $14.77 million, Korea contributed $1.59 million, and Germany granted $2 million.
Additionally, non-project aid came in at $1.837 billion, while project aid stood at $539.10 million.
Pakistan’s current account deficit in July and August in the current fiscal year was $2.29 billion as compared to a net surplus of $838 million in the same period in FY 2021.
The State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves surged to a record-high of $20.15 billion in the week that ended on 27 August after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) allocated Pakistan Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $2,751.8 million.
Talks with the IMF over an additional $1 billion loan under its $6 billion loan program will start on 4 October.
