Govt retires over Rs165 billion debt, reducing net borrowings

KARACHI: The government of Pakistan has repaid Rs165.84 billion in debt during the week ending on August 16, 2024, reducing its total net borrowing for the fiscal year 2025 to Rs152.58 billion, as reported by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Government borrowing is categorised into three main areas: budgetary support, commodity operations, and other purposes.

Breaking it down, the government repaid Rs164.1 billion for budgetary support and Rs1.35 billion for commodity operations during the week. An additional Rs387.07 million was repaid under the “other purposes” category.

According to Mettis Global, the total borrowing for fiscal year 2025 now stands at Rs392.37 billion for budgetary support, Rs238.18 billion for commodity operations, and Rs1.61 billion for other purposes.

The government relies heavily on two main sources for budgetary support: the State Bank of Pakistan and scheduled banks.

This fiscal year, the government borrowed a net amount of Rs123.25 billion from the central bank. Specifically, the Federal Government repaid Rs125.56 billion, while the Provincial Government borrowed Rs272.16 billion.

Meanwhile, the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) repaid Rs12.71 billion and Rs10.65 billion, respectively.

Read next: Third consecutive petrol, diesel price cut on the cards for Pakistanis