Over $25 billion worth of foreign loans obtained, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Friday that the country obtained US$25.59 billion worth of loans from global lending institutions during a period between July 2015 and July 2019.

The Ministry of Finance informed the upper house of parliament that of the total public debt, 11.79 billion dollars were obtained from international financial institutions while 13.80 billion dollars from global commercial banks.

It said the country’s net foreign reserves stand at over 18.8 billion dollars.

Last year in July, the Economic Affairs Division in a statement had said the net addition to external public debt during fiscal year 2018-19 was only $2.29 billion, which is the lowest in the last three years.

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The total external inflows during FY 2018-19 were $10.186 billion, including grants of $330 million, while external loans obtained by the government during the year were $9.85 billion with the government making payment of $8.94 billion on account of retirement of external debt and debt servicing.

“The net addition to the external public debt was only $2.29 billion which is the lowest of last three years,” reads the statement.

It said that the net additions to the external public debt during the last three fiscal years i.e. FY 2015-16 to FY 2017-18 were $6.82 billion, $4.77 billion and $8.64 billion respectively.

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The Economic Affairs Division further said that the ADB and World Bank disbursed $541.17 million and $652.75 million respectively during FY 2018-19 as compared to $945.69 million and $817.54 million during FY 2017-18.