Debt burden on economy rises amid COVID-19 pandemic: Finance ministry   

ISLAMABAD: Finance ministry on Saturday said that the debt burden on the economy has reached upto 87.2 percent, terming the rise mainly due to the impact of coronavirus on the economy, ARY NEWS reported.

A spokesman for the ministry said that the debt burden on the economy stood at 86.1 percent in June 2019 and witnessed an improvement of two percent by December 2019 to reach 84 percent.

The coronavirus impacted the economy, he said after the debt witnessed a three percent increase from December 2019 to June 2020.

We had lowered our expenditure in February 2020 and even tackled the current account deficit before the pandemic hit the country [late in February], the spokesman said adding that the COVID-19 changed the fiscal position since then.

Besides, remittances suffering a huge blow owing to coronavirus, the growth rate also sustained a setback due to the pandemic, the finance ministry official said.

He said that the government was committed to bring down the percentage of debt burden on the economy. “We are strictly following a financial discipline for this purpose,” the spokesman said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Finance Ministry on July 28 issued the monthly economic outlook of the country for July 2020, showing a decline in exports and imports of the country during the previous fiscal year 2019-20.

According to the finance ministry, the exports have witnessed a 7.2 percent decline in the previous year and stood at United States Dollar (USD) 22.5 billion.

Imports also witnessed a decline of 18.2 percent and stood at Rs US$42.4 billion, the report highlighted showcasing a trade deficit of 27.9 percent at US$19.9 billion.

The workers’ remittance surged to US$23.1 billion, witnessing a 6.4 percent raise. The current account deficit remained at US$3 billion, showing a decline of 77.9 percent, showed the economic outlook report.