Govt acquires Rs210.86 billion additional debt in weekly borrowing

WEB DESK: The government of Pakistan has added an additional debt of Rs210.86 billion during the week ending on 9th August 2024, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s latest report. This brings the total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2025 to Rs318.41 billion.

Government borrowing is generally categorised into three main areas: budgetary support, commodity operations, and other purposes. During the week under review, net borrowing for budgetary support amounted to Rs254.09 billion.

In contrast, there was a repayment of Rs43.29 billion related to commodity operations, and Rs56.24 million was borrowed for other purposes.

As a result, the cumulative borrowing for fiscal year 2025 now stands at Rs556.47 billion for budgetary support, Rs236.83 billion for the repayment of commodity operations, and Rs1.22 billion for other obligations.

The primary sources of financing for budgetary support include the State Bank of Pakistan and Scheduled Banks. This fiscal year, the government has borrowed a net amount of Rs366.91 billion from the central bank.

Out of this, the Federal Government borrowed Rs127.18 billion, while the Provincial Governments borrowed Rs263.06 billion. Meanwhile, the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have repaid Rs12.71 billion and Rs10.62 billion, respectively.

On the other hand, Scheduled Banks have provided a net total of Rs189.55 billion in loans. Of this amount, the Federal Government borrowed Rs213.07 billion, while the Provincial Governments repaid Rs23.51 billion.

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