Pakistan’s debt reaches record level

KARACHI: Pakistan’s total debt reached a record level of Rs 67.816 trillion as of May 2024, ARY News reported citing the State Bank (SBP) of Pakistan on Friday.

As per the data released by the central bank, the federal government’s total debt increased by 15 percent in one year, with a significant addition of Rs 8,852 billion.

The SBP reported that the country’s total debt was Rs 58,964 billion in May 2023, which increased to Rs 66,086 billion in April 2024.

The central bank reported that Pakistan’s domestic debt also reached a record level of Rs 46,208 billion.

The SBP said that ‘Naya Pakistan Certificates’ saw a decrease in annual debt by 37.51 percent to Rs 87 billion. The central bank also reported a 1.4 percent decrease in the federal government’s external debt, from Rs 21,908 billion to Rs 21,608 billion.

Read More: Pakistan paid Rs5.517 trln in debt servicing during July-March FY24

Earlier in May, the federal government’s fiscal woes have multiplied, as Pakistan paid Rs5.517 trillion in debt servicing in the first nine months of the FY2023-24, ARY News reported quoting an official document of the finance ministry.

According to the fiscal operation report released by the finance ministry, Pakistan paid Rs4807 billion in in domestic debt servicing and Rs710 billion in international debt servicing.

According to the fiscal operation for the July-March period released by the Ministry of Finance, the gross revenue receipts of the federal government stood at Rs9.1 trillion out of which the Centre provided Rs3.8 trillion to the provinces under the NFC Award, leaving the net revenue receipts at Rs5.3 trillion.

Punjab received Rs1,865 billion under the NFC Award during July-March in FY2023-24, while Sindh received Rs946 billion from the divisible pool. KP and Balochistan received Rs623 billion and Rs379 billion, respectively.