
For the first time, Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities have passed 50.5 trillion Pakistani rupees (PKR), reports said, indicating official figures published on Wednesday. Out of this number, the increase of PKR 20.7 trillion is below the prevailing government alone. Pakistan’s entire debt and public debt has been declining since the Imran Khan government rose to power, news agency ANI reported.
The State Bank of Pakistan published the debt numbers till September 2021, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed the growing debt as a “national security issue”, Express Tribune reported.
Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities surged to the record PKR 50.5 trillion at the end of September 2021, increasing PKR 20.7 trillion in the former 39 months. There was an accession of almost 70 per cent in the country’s total debt, Express Tribune reported.
On Friday, Pakistan National Assembly was also notified that the country’s public debt rose by ₹14.9 trillion from July 2018 to June 2021 by the Ministry for Finance and Revenue. In a written response to a question, the house was notified that the exchange rate devaluation continued around PKR 2.9 trillion (20 per cent of the increase) in public debt. In comparison, the government spent PKR 7.5 trillion against interest servicing, which is 50 per cent of the total public debt rise, reported The News International.
According to The Express Tribune, the International Monetary Fund has also refused Pakistan’s request for borrowing and disagreed on any significant responsibility of the State Bank of Pakistan. The report said that the central bank’s earnings would also not be given 100 per cent to the federal government until Pakistan’s State Bank gets cover to back its monetary liabilities.
According to the Tribune report, the prohibition on borrowing from the central bank has neglected the government at the mercy of commercial banks that have lately commanded an interest rate significantly higher than the vital policy rate.