Pakistan’s total outstanding debt and liabilities swelled by Rs. 3.893 trillion to an all-time high of Rs. 51.724 trillion mainly due to the Rs. 2.5 trillion impact of currency depreciation during the first half of the current fiscal year 2021-22.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a report on the total stock of debt and liabilities up to Dec 2021. The report shows that the total debt stock of the country increased by Rs. 3.706 trillion to Rs. 49.254 trillion during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to Rs. 45.548 trillion in June 2021
The liabilities, including internal and external liabilities, also climbed by Rs. 43 billion to Rs. 2944 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to Rs 2901 billion in June 2021
Out of total debt stock, the government domestic debt increased by Rs. 481 billion to Rs. 26.747 trillion during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to 26.265 trillion in June 2021. Public sector enterprises (PSEs) domestic debt also surged by Rs. 77 billion to Rs. 1.54 trillion, compared to Rs. 1.437 trillion in June 2021
The reports show the external debt stock also increased during the period mainly due to rupee depreciation. Interestingly, the government availed only $8.423 billion in fresh external debt during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The government obtained $4.814 billion with an average rate of Rs. 164 per dollar and $3.61 billion with an average rate of Rs. 176.6 per dollar. Out of the total, external debt stock in local currency stood at Rs. 2.5 trillion due to currency depreciation which shot up to Rs. 176.6 from Rs. 157.3 during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The external debt also swelled by Rs. 3.157 trillion to Rs. 21.004 trillion during the first half of the current fiscal year, compared to Rs. 17.846 in June 2021 The report shows that out of total debt liabilities, external debt increased to Rs. 2,055 billion from Rs. 1,378 billion and internal debt liabilities decreased to Rs. 889 billion from Rs. 904 billion.
