PTI government has added Rs 17,500 billions(17.5 trillion) to the loans in 43 months
PTI government has taken as much loan in 43 months that PPP and PML-N governments took in 10 years
PTI government came into power with promise to reduce the burden of loans on Pakistan. PTI government promised to retire at least Rs 10,000 billion loans during his tenure. But instead of reducing the debt burden, it added Rs 17,500 billion (17.5 trillion) loans in just 43 months.
Prime Minister Imran khan was used to criticise the PPP and PML-N governments to increase the debt burden and taking more loans. The PTI leaders used to remind us on daily basis that how heavily the PPP and PML-N governments borrowed during their tenures.
Pakistan’s
total debt and liabilities crossed Rs50 trillion mark for the first time in the history. It jumped to the record Rs51.5 trillion at the end of January
2022 an addition of Rs21.7 trillion in the past 43 months. There was an
increase of nearly 70% in total debt of the country.
The budget allocation for repayment of debts and interests has doubled in 43 months. PML-N government in his last budget in 2018 allocated nearly Rs1600 billions for debt retirement. The PTI government has allocated nearly Rs3200 billions for repayment of debts. This is almost 100% increase in the budget allocation.
In June
2018, every Pakistani owed Rs144, 000, which increased to Rs235, 000 by
September 2021, an additional burden of Rs91, 000 or 63% during PTI’s tenure.
Like its
predecessor, the PTI government too is running on foreign and domestic loans
and has failed to enhance revenues to such levels where its debt burden can be
reduced.
The
situation is no different when it comes to the public debt, which is the direct
responsibility of the federal government.
The public debt increased to Rs42.5 trillion by September this year, an addition of Rs17.5 trillion during PTI’s tenure. Total public debt increased 76% from July 2018 to January 2022.
The PTI
government added, on average, Rs14 billion a day to the public debt, which was
more than double the daily average addition of Rs5.8 billion by the PML-N
government.
The latest
State Bank of Pakistan data shows that Pakistan’s external debt and liabilities
(outstanding) reached an all-time high of $130.6 billion at the end of October-December
quarter of current financial year, an increase of $13.6bn or 12% year on year
basis.
The increase
is mainly attributable to the higher mobilisation of foreign funds to plug
fiscal and current account deficits and the accumulation of foreign reserves
during the period.
According to
the latest data issued by the SBP, 78% of the entire debt can be attributed to
public external debt, the combination of the government’s long term and
short-term external debt, IMF loans to the central bank, and foreign exchange
liabilities.
In February 2019, PM Khan had vowed to bring the public debt down to Rs20 trillion. He had been very critical of the economic policies followed by the previous PPP and PML-N governments and had set up the Debt Inquiry Commission to investigate the reasons behind the addition of Rs18 trillion to the debt stock in 10 years. Despite completion of the inquiry, the premier has withheld the release of the report.
The
accumulation of debt is a direct result of the gap between expenditures and
revenues, which is widening due to the inelasticity of debt servicing and
defence needs and the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) failure to enhance tax
collection significantly.
Khalid Bhatti
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