For the first time ever, the total debt and liabilities of Pakistan have crossed 50.5 trillion Pakistani rupees (PKR), reports said
For the first time ever, the total debt and liabilities of Pakistan have crossed 50.5 trillion Pakistani rupees (PKR), reports said, citing official figures released on Wednesday. Out of this amount, the addition of PKR 20.7 trillion is under the current government alone. The total debt and public debt of Pakistan has been deteriorating since the Imran Khan government has come into power, news agency ANI reported. The State Bank of Pakistan released the debt figures till September 2021, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan described the increasing debt as a “national security issue”, Express Tribune reported.Pakistan’s total debt and liabilities jumped to the record PKR 50.5 trillion at the end of September 2021, an addition of PKR 20.7 trillion in the past 39 months. There was an increase of nearly 70 per cent in total debt of the country, Express Tribune reported.On Friday, Pakistan National Assembly was also informed that the country’s public debt increased by ₹14.9 trillion from July 2018 to June 2021 by the Ministry for Finance and Revenue. In a written reply to a question, the house was informed that the exchange rate depreciation added around PKR 2.9 trillion (20 per cent of the increase) in public debt while the government paid PKR 7.5 trillion against interest servicing which is 50 per cent of the increase in the total public debt, reported The News International.According to The Express Tribune, the International Monetary Fund has also rejected Pakistan’s request for borrowing and did not agree on any meaningful accountability of the State Bank of Pakistan. The report said that the central bank’s profit would also not be transferred 100 per cent to the federal government until Pakistan’s State Bank gets cover to back its monetary liabilities.
