ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national debt has surged to Rs38.70 trillion by June 2021, State Bank of Pakistan reported today. In just one year, 2020-21, the national debt has expanded by 3.59 trillion rupees and mounted to 38.7 trillion in June 2021, from Rs35.10 trillion in June 2020.
The debt owed by the federal government has increased by 10 percent (Rs 3.59 trillion) in a year and it mounted to Rs38.7 trillion in June 2021.
According to the central bank, 68 percent of the loans have been acquired from domestic sources while 32 percent was foreign debt.
The total debt of the Central Government during FY21 surged by Rs3.59 trillion or around 10% YoY to stand at Rs38.7 trillion when compared to Rs35.106 trillion recorded in FY20.
In FY19, federal government debt stood at Rs31.78 billion. In Q4 of FY21, the central government debt increased by 5 percent against Rs36.84tr reported at the end of March 2021.
The data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) shows that the larger portion of the debt was domestic, whereas the remaining was external. The Central Government Domestic Debt amounted to Rs26.26tr during FY21, signifying a growth of around 13% YoY, comprising of Rs19.556tr long term debt and Rs6.680tr short term debt.
The long term debt stood at 12.29 trillion. SBP further said that Rs15,457 billion were generated through the sale of bonds while investment bonds also garnered Rs14,590 billion.
Pakistan has received major debt relief from G20 countries amid the coronavirus pandemic as an important forum of the world’s leading economies has deferred Pakistan’s debt repayment of $3.7 billion.
Back in April 2020, the G20 countries have provided a major relief to Pakistan by postponing debt payments worth $12 billion in the current fiscal year and approved the time period up to 2.5 years for the payments of loan installments and interest.
Meanwhile, on August 26, 2021, the International Monetary Fund has provided 2.75 billion dollars unconditional loan to Pakistan under its global funding programme that aimed at enabling the world to combat the economic slump triggered by the Covid pandemic.
