Govt borrows billions from commercial banks for expenditure

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has borrowed heavily from commercial banks in a bid to meet the expenditure, ARY News reported.

According to details, the incumbent government borrowed Rs215 billion from commercial banks by selling treasury bills.

The loan target from banks was Rs850 billion, while the government received offers of Rs646 billion.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has sold T-bills worth Rs206 billion for short term i.e. three months, while T-bills worth Rs six billion were sold for six months and T-bills worth Rs3 billion for a year.

The central bank has sold T-bills at higher interest rate compared to November 16. The rate on three-month T-bills increased by 129 basis points to 16.99 percent.

Meanwhile, the rate of six-month T-bills increased by 107 basis points to 16.8 percent and the rate of 12-month T-bills increased by 107 basis points to 16.84 percent.

Earlier on November 29, the Ministry of Finance confirmed that Pakistan received $500 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

“Government of Pakistan has today received $500 million from AIIB. The funds are deposited with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and will augment our reserves,” the ministry said in a post on its Twitter handle.

Read more: FOREIGN EXCHANGE: SBP RESERVES FALL $134M TO $7.8BN

The funds by AIIB are crucial for the cash-strapped country, which has seen its foreign exchange reserves dwindle in recent months. The country’s reserves stood at $7.8 billion as of November 18.

“During the week ended on November 18, 2022, SBP’s reserves decreased by $134 million to $7,825.7 million due to external debt repayment,” said the SBP in a statement on Friday.