Pakistan Govts borrowed Rs 19tr during the last 17 years
ISLAMABAD: Different governments took Rs 19 trillion worth of loans from different foreign lending institutions during a span of 17 years. Documents available with this scribe indicate that from 1947 to 1999, different governments had obtained Rs 2,946 billion in loans, of which domestic debt stood at Rs 1,389 billion while foreign loan was Rs 1,557 billion.
The Musharraf government in its nine-year tenure had taken Rs 3,180 billion loan, which took the volume of total loans to Rs 6,126 billion. In the five-year tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) from 2008 to 2013, the government took loans to the tune of Rs 8,200 billion. With this, debt swelled to Rs 14,318 billion, of which domestic loans stood at Rs 9,522 billion and foreign debts were Rs 4,797 billion. The incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government took loans amounting to Rs 8,000 billion in just three years, pushing the figures to Rs 22,318 billion.
Daily Times has obtained documented evidence that shows that the government has now decided to take $6.63 billion during 2016-17 under the medium term debt management strategy. Under the plan, $2.85 billion would be taken from the World Bank, $500 million from the Asian Development Bank and $350 million from other donor agencies for various development projects.
Similarly, the government will also get $1 billion from China safe deposit, $500 million from euro bonds and $1.13 billion from the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Trade Finance Cooperation. In addition to the foreign debt, the government will also take $300 million from commercial banks during the current financial year.
The documents revealed that during the fiscal year 2018-19, the government plans to take $5.95 billion as foreign loans. In addition, the government will have to pay an interest of $2.74 billion on the loans taken during the last three years.The country had to repay the total loans of Rs $40.8 billion before the 2013 general election, and with an addition to $20.5 billion during the PML-N government’s tenure, the volume of total foreign debt will swell to $70.3 billion after the next general election. ‘Courtesy Daily Times’
