Pakistan's total public debt exceeded PKR 44 trillion by end of Imran Khan's term

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 10 (ANI): The total public debt of Pakistan was PKR 44,366 billion at the end of March 2022, and had increased by PKR 4,500 billion over the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal year, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22.

The survey was released on Thursday, and revealed that total external debt had touched USD 88.8 billion (PKR 16.29 trillion) by the end of March 2022, having increased by around USD 2.3 billion over the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal year, Dawn reported.

It further shows that of the net PKR 4,500 billion increase, financing of the federal primary deficit accounted for PKR 1,047 billion; interest payments consumed PKR 2,118 billion; currency depreciation accounted for PKR 1,744 billion; while a PKR 409 billion decrease in the government's cash balance accounted for the remaining, according to the publication.

The debt stock from multilateral and bilateral sources, mostly contracted on concessional terms (low cost and longer tenor), increased by a net USD 2.9 billion. Dawn reported that the International Development Bank provided USD 0.8 billion. Another USD 3 billion was provided by the Saudi government in the form of time deposits.

The debt stock of commercial loans registered a net decrease of around USD 1.5 billion, mainly due to a repayment of loans taken from Chinese commercial banks amounting to USD 2.3 billion. The repayment was done upon maturity of the loans in March 2022, but the government expects the funds to return sometime this month.

The government also raised USD 2 billion through the issuance of international bonds (USD 1 billion through Eurobonds in July 2021 and USD 1 billion through a Sukuk in January 2022). It also repaid USD 1 billion against maturing Sukuk.

The survey reveals that domestic debt had touched PKR 28,076 billion by end-March 2022, up by PKR 1,811 billion in the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal, as per Dawn. (ANI)

Source: WORLD