The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government added Rs. 5,700 billion to the country’s debt and liabilities in just nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year due to a heavy borrowing policy and currency fluctuation. This took the country’s total debt and liabilities to Rs. 53.544 trillion, up from Rs. 47.844 trillion during the period under review.
The PTI government piled up the stock of debt and liabilities on the country by Rs. 23 trillion during its tenure of 43 months.
The State Bank of Pakistan has issued a quarterly report on the debt and liabilities of the country. The report shows that Pakistan’s total debt surged by Rs. 5,497 billion to Rs. 51.058 trillion from Rs. 45.561 trillion. The liabilities grew from Rs. 2.282 trillion to Rs. 2.961 trillion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The principal repayment of external debt and liabilities squeezed to Rs. 700 billion from Rs. 1,634 billion, interest payment on debt decreased to Rs. 750 billion from Rs. 2,832 billion, and interest payment on liabilities fell to Rs. 36 billion from Rs. 95 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
Debt stock
Out of total debt stock of Rs. 51 trillion, the government domestic debt increased from Rs. 26.265 trillion to Rs. 28.076 trillion, the PSEs domestic debt increased from Rs. 1,437 billion to Rs. 1,439 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The external debt swelled from Rs. 17.859 trillion to Rs. 21.542.5 trillion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, mainly due to currency fluctuation during the period.
The Pakistani Rupee lost Rs. 26 against the US Dollar during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which pushed up the external debt stock.
Out of total external debt, the government external debt increased from Rs. 12.439 trillion to Rs. 14.918 trillion, and non-government external debt grew from Rs. 3.608 trillion to Rs. 4.475 trillion, and the country’s debt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased from Rs. 1.161 trillion to Rs. 1.371 trillion, the intercompany external debt from direct investors abroad went up from Rs. 651 billion to Rs. 777 billion.
Liabilities
The external liabilities surged from Rs. 1.378 trillion to Rs. 2.116 trillion, and domestic liabilities decreased from Rs. 904 billion to Rs. 845 billion during the three quarters of the current fiscal year.
Principal repayment of external debt and liabilities
The principal repayment of external debt and liabilities decreased from Rs. 1,634 billion to Rs. 700 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Out of the total principal repayment of external debt and liabilities, the government external debt and liabilities decreased from Rs. 811 billion to Rs. 629 billion, non-government external debt decreased from Rs. 164 billion to Rs. 32.5 billion, the country’s debt from IMF decreased from Rs. 173 billion to Rs. 38.7 billion, and monetary authorities’ external liabilities cleared from Rs. 486 billion to zero.
Interest payment on Debt
Interest payment on debt narrowed from Rs. 2,832 billion to Rs. 750 billion, the government domestic debt decreased from Rs. 2,510 billion to Rs. 637 billion, the external debt decreased from Rs. 322 billion to Rs. 114 billion, the government external debt decreased from Rs. 209 billion to Rs. 76 billion, the non-government external debt decreased from Rs. 89 billion to Rs. 32 billion, and the country’s debt from IMF decreased from Rs. 24 billion to Rs. 5.5 billion during the period.
