Pakistan’s debt surges by Rs1.46 billion within a week

WEB DESK: The Pakistani government’s debt burden increased by Rs1.46 billion in the week ending March 22, 2024, pushing its total net borrowing for the fiscal year 2024 to Rs3.4 trillion, as per the latest figures released by the central bank.

This surge in borrowing marks a continuing trend for the current fiscal year, with government borrowings surpassing previous records.

Government borrowing activities are classified into three main categories: budgetary support, commodity operations, and others.

In the latest weekly data, Rs32.26 billion was borrowed for budgetary support, while Rs29.63 billion was utilised for commodity operations.

Additionally, Rs1.17 billion was borrowed for other purposes during the same period.

Overall, this brings the cumulative borrowing for the fiscal year 2024 to Rs3.76 trillion for budgetary support, Rs352.81 billion for commodity operations, and Rs0.31 billion for other expenditures.

The primary sources of funding for budgetary support are the State Bank of Pakistan and the Scheduled Banks. Notably, during this fiscal year, the government has repaid a net amount of Rs757.46 billion to the central bank.

Of this, the Federal Government accounted for Rs411.9 billion, while the Provincial Government repaid Rs317.1 billion.

Additionally, the AJK Government retired Rs23.09 billion, and the GB Government settled Rs5.36 billion.

Meanwhile, the Scheduled Banks have extended a net total of Rs4.51 trillion in lending. Among these, the Federal Government borrowed Rs4.69 trillion, while the Provincial Government repaid Rs175.84 billion.