ISLAMABAD (Eshfak Mughal):- The Central Government’s debt excluding IMF and govt guarantees increased by Rs.14.1 trillion (32 percent) to Rs57.1 trillion during the one year of the Pakistan Democratic Movement Federal Government led by Premier Shehbaz Sharif mainly due to free fall of local currency against green back currency.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued quarterly bulletin of the Central Government Debt up to March 2023 on Monday.
According to the report, the total debt stock of the federal government excluding IMF and other financial obligations increased from Rs.43 trillion to Rs.57.122 trillion during the last one year (March 22 to March 23) which was regime of the Pakistan Democratic Movement.
The Federal Govt’s domestic debt was increased by Rs.7000 billion from Rs.28.076 trillion from Rs.35.076 trillion. The external public debt was increased by Rs 7.1 trillion Rs.14.936 trillion from Rs.22.046 trillion during the last one year, according to the report.
The data shows that the long term central government domestic debt was increased by Rs.5844 billion from Rs.3326 billion from Rs.22.797 trillion to Rs.28.641 trillion, however, the short term local public debt was increased by Rs.1054 billion from Rs.5.241 trillion Rs.6.295 trillion during the first one year.
The central govt has raised Rs.5254 billion through Pakistan Government Bonds during the last one year. After this amount, the financial obligation against the Govt bonds was raised to Rs. 16,529 billion to Rs 21,783 billion during the one regime of the PDM govt. It has also raised Rs905 billion through GOP Ijara Sukuk during the last one year. Consequently, the obligations of the govt agaist Ijara Sukuk was increased from Rs.19,991 billion to Rs.2,681 billion from Rs.1,776.3 billion during the period.
The PDM govt has raised Rs.8.2 billion from Prize Bonds during the seven months which was increased to Rs.381.6 billion one year up to March 2023.
The financial obligations of the SBP’s on-lending to GOP against SDRs allocation (SDR 1.95 billion) equivalent to PKR 474.94 billion from Nov-21 remained 474.9 billion during the 12 months.
The debt stock of the unfunded debt was decreased by Rs.611 billion from Rs.3,608.5 billion to Rs.2,997.8 billion due to repayments of dues related to National Savings Schemes, Postal Life Insurance and GOP funds during the last one year. The data shows that the obligations of the National Savings were narrowed from Rs.3,481.8 to Rs.2,893.1 billion, the Postal Life Insurance remained at Rs.47.2 billion and GP Fund was decreased by Rs.22 billion from Rs.79.5 to Rs.57.5 billion during the period.
In short term local loan, the government debt against Market Treasury Bills was decreased by Rs.1040 billion from Rs.5,190.6 billion to Rs.6,230.6 billion during the one year, the data shows.
The PDM govt has raised Rs102 billion through Naya Pakistan Certificates during the its regime. The debt obligation of the govt against Rs swelled from Rs37 billion to Rs139 billion during the one year.
The Federal Government’s external debt was increased by 48 percent (Rs7.11 trillion) from Rs.14,936 billion to Rs.22.046 trillion mainly due to free fall of depreciation of local currency against the US$ during the last one year.
According to the data, the country’s foreign debt was decreased from $96.3 billion to $100.3 billion during the last one year.
The data shows that the USD was appreciated by Rs.100 from Rs.183 to Rs.283 during the one year up to March 2023 as the government failed to revive the IMF loan program which is almost suspended from last six months. The International creditors including International Organizations and different friendly countries are not ready to give money due to suspension of IMF Program.
According to the data of State Bank of Pakistan, the SBP’s forex reserves were decreased by $6.7 billion from $9.8 billion to $4.208 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.