Pakistan secures $57bn in foreign loans over five years, pays $3.9bn in interest

The Ministry of Economic Affairs informed the National Assembly that the government received $57.27 billion in foreign loans, excluding IMF assistance, from July 2018 to June 2023. Out of this amount, $9.81 billion was allocated for project financing. 

In a written response to a question posed by Shakir Bashir Awan, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema stated that the government paid $3.9 billion in interest on these foreign loans during the same period, with $889 million paid specifically for project loans.

The ministry also clarified that domestic loans are mainly raised through government securities auctions or the Central Directorate of National Savings, and are used primarily for deficit financing, not for project-specific purposes.

Separately, in response to a query from Syed Rafiullah regarding advance taxes collected from mobile users over the last five years, the Ministry of Finance reported that Rs50 billion was collected in 2020, Rs55 billion in 2021, Rs61 billion in 2022, Rs80 billion in 2023, and Rs92 billion in 2024.

The Ministry explained that data on the number of mobile users and their service usage is maintained by the Ministry of Information and Technology, not the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).