Pakistan's debt stands at Rs38,697 bn in June 2021: SBP

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday said that the country’s debt has soared to Rs38,697 billion in June 2021 with most of it being acquired from local financial sources, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details shared by the SBP, the debt owed by the federal government has increased by 10 percent annually and currently stands at Rs38,697 billion in June this year.

It said that 68 percent of the loans have been acquired from national sources while 32 percent was obtained using foreign funding. “The long term debt stands at 12,297 billion, whereas short term loan is Rs135 million,” the central bank shared.

It further added that Rs15,457 billion has been obtained after 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 the premier forum of the world’s leading economies has suspended Pakistan’s debt of $3.7 billion by the end of this year.

This was announced by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhary during a media briefing in Islamabad in June this year.

“This is yet another positive development for the country’s economy”, said Fawad.

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.