ISLAMABAD: The country’s total debt and liabilities have been recorded at Rs. 63.868 trillion as per the State Bank’s data at the end of the Q2 of fiscal year 2022-23. The increase was observed despite a decrease in foreign debt, by $3.851 billion due to suspension of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The data shows that Pakistan’s debt stock increased by Rs4.169 trillion to Rs.63.868 trillion during the first half of the current fiscal year.
The country’s total debt was increased from Rs.56.764 trillion to Rs 60.718 during the first half of the fiscal year. The same debt was recorded at Rs 62,407 trillion at the end of the first quarter. Since then the increase has been close to 2.3%. This included the government debt, which was recorded at Rs 33.1 trillion, external debt worth Rs 26.127 trillion, debt of public sector enterprises worth Rs1.474 trillion, during the period.
Out of total government domestic debt worth Rs.33.116 trillion, the government raised Rs2614 billion during the six months through Pakistan investment Bonds. The total debt of the Pakistan investment bonds climbed to Rs.20.301 billion in Dec 2022.
The debt stock of GOP Ijara Sukuk raised from Rs 2,280 billion to Rs.2,644 billion.
Financial obligations of the Saving Schemes (Net of Prize Bonds) were reduced from Rs.3.208 trillion to Rs.2,961 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year. The government’s debt on T-bills, decreased from Rs.6.752 trillion to 6,091 trillion during the period
The external debt stock of the government was increased from Rs.16.747 trillion to Rs.17.880 trillion during the first half of the current fiscal year. The external debt stock in terms of PKR was increased by Rs1.1 trillion during six months mainly due to free fall of local currency depreciation during the rupee. The USD appreciated by Rs 22 from Rs 204 to Rs 226 during the first half of the current fiscal year, according to the data of the State Bank.
Contrary to that, the foreign debt stock in terms of USD was reduced by $3.851 billion to $126.345 billion from $130.636 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year. The government has also repaid $5 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year causing a major dent in the SBP’s liquid foreign currency reserves.
The external debt was reduced from $99.97 billion to $97.544 billion while the external debt of public sector enterprises was reduced from $8.199 to $7.914 billion during the period. The foreign debt of banks was also reduced by $5.947 billion to $5.283 billion and debt of the private sector decreased by $11.649 billion to $11.492 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year.
Reduction in the foreign debt obligations was mainly due to suspension of the IMF loan program after non-compliance of the conditions. However, the Pakistani authorities and IMF concluded staff level talks last week under the ninth review meeting. It is expected that both parties will reach at staff level agreement during next week as Pakistan has increased the tariffs of power and gas and taken new tax measures of Rs.170 billion in compliance with the prior conditions of the IMF.
Ghar