Breaking all previous records of borrowing money, Pakistan's ruling Imran Khan government has recorded Rs 7,509 billion (Pakistani currency) increase in the total debt of the country. The data comes merely in the first year of Imran Khan's tenure. A report in the Pakistani media, citing sources, said the State Bank of Pakistan has sent this borrowing data to the Prime Minister's Office.
Between August 2018 and August 2019, the government has borrowed Rs 2,804 billion from foreign sources and Rs 4,705 billion from domestic sources, the report said.
According to the State Bank data, a 1.43 per cent surge was noticed in the public debt of Pakistan in merely first two months of the current fiscal year.
The debt of the federal government has reached to Rs 32,240 billion that was Rs 24,732 billion in August last year.
The government's tax collection in the first quarter of the current fiscal was Rs 960 billion while the target was Rs 1 trillion, the report said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan needs to repay China more than double the amount it owes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the next three years, as loans racked-up to boost foreign exchange reserves and bridge a financing gap become due.
The South Asian nation owes $6.7 billion in commercial loans to China over the three years through June 2022, according to the IMF, which this year approved a new program to bail out Pakistan from a crisis.
Islamabad needs to pay the multilateral lender $2.8 billion in the same period.
Pakistan has been borrowing from Beijing to tide over a financial crisis. Still, the money was enough to only partly bridge a financing gap, pushing the South Asian nation to knock at the IMF’s doors.
Also Read | Pakistan activated 20 terror camps, 20 launch pads along LoC
Also Read | Punjab: BSF on alert after Pakistani drone enters Indian border
Latest World News
