ISLAMABAD     -    Pakistan’s debt and liabilities have mounted to Rs41.5 trillion by the end of September.

The country’s total debt and liabilities soared to Rs41.5 trillion by September 2019—an addition of Rs10.7 trillion over the same month of previous year.

The latest data of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed that Pakistan’s domestic debt surged to Rs22.6 trillion with addition of Rs5.73 trillion in last one year. Meanwhile, the country’s external debt was recorded at Rs10.7 trillion by the end of September.

In dollar terms, Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities stood at $106.9 billion. The debt taken by Pakistan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased in rupee terms to Rs992.7 billion. Loan from IMF was Rs740.7 billion in September last year.

However, loan from IMF increased after the country had received first tranche under extended fund facility in July this year.

Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities surged to $106.9 billion by the end of September 2019 following the massive borrowings made by the successive government.

The breakup of $106.9 billion public debt and liabilities showed that external public debt stood at $84.5 billion in September 2019 compared to $76.3 billion at the end of September 2018. Similarly, among the public debt, long-term debt portfolio increased from $64 billion to $66.2 billion.

The IMF debt had reduced to $6.4 billion in September 2019 from $5.96 billion in same month of the last year. In addition, PSEs debt went up to $3.8 billion in September 2019 as compared to $2.67 billion in September 2018. Bank borrowing was recorded at $4.64 billion at the end of September 2019.

Private sector debt also showed an upward trend surging by 15.2 percent during the last one year. Private sector debt stood at $10.75 billion at the end of September 2019, up from $9.33 billion in September 2018.

The interest payments on debt and liabilities also skyrocketed to $3.07 billion in the first quarter (July to September) of the current fiscal year.

The breakup showed that government had paid $2.28 billion as loan and $798 million as interest payment during the first quarter.

The ministry of finance had projected that Pakistan’s total public debt would increase by 47 percent in five years to Rs45.57 trillion.

According to the Public Debt Management Plan for the fiscal years 2020-24, the Ministry of Finance also estimated the total external debt increasing by 80 percent to Rs18.77 trillion in FY24 from Rs10.446 trillion at present.

On the other hand, the plan estimates the total domestic debt to increase by over 30 percent to reach Rs26.8 trillion by FY24 from Rs20.57 trillion at the end of FY19.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report, the Fiscal Monitor 2019, had already projected that Pakistan’s general government debt at 76.7 percent of the GDP in last fiscal year. However, it estimated that debt would further go up to 78.6 percent in ongoing fiscal year (FY20).

Later, from next year, the debt would start declining and projected to come down to 76.1pc of GDP.

The debt-to-GDP ratio will further reduce to 72.5 percent in FY22 followed by 69 percent in FY23 and 65.4 percent in FY24.