The budget deficit has swelled to Rs. 2.5 trillion due to different slippages including unbudgeted high subsidies and debt servicing during the first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of the last fiscal year.
Sources in the Ministry of Finance told the scribe that the budget deficit has surged to Rs. 2.5 trillion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year according to the provisional estimates.
The budget deficit was recorded at Rs. 1.652 trillion during the same period last fiscal year. It is expected that the budget deficit will touch the highest level of Rs. 5.5 trillion instead of the original estimate of Rs. 3.9 trillion by end of June 2022.
Addressing a press conference earlier in the week, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail had claimed that Pakistan’s budget deficit will likely hit a record high of Rs. 5.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year.
The sources said that the subsidy on petroleum products and cheaper electricity has put pressure on the budget deficit during the current fiscal year. According to the official estimates, the government is facing Rs. 70 billion revenue loss on monthly basis to maintain petroleum prices.
The sources said that the government has borrowed from internal and external sources to bridge the budget deficit during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The government has net borrowed Rs. 895.6 billion from local banks through different security papers for budgetary support during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The government has honored the agreement with IMF with regard to no direct borrowing from State Bank of Pakistan during the period. During the current fiscal year, the government didn’t take any fresh loan but and has retired debt of net Rs. 104 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan during the nine months of the current fiscal year.
