Pakistan has a staggering Rs64 trillion worth of internal and external debt, according to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
This implies that each Pakistani citizen owes Rs250,000.
The SBP released data on the loans the federal government had taken on Thursday.
According to the data, the federal government took a fresh loan of Rs2.218 trillion in August 2023.
As a result, local loans to Pakistan have climbed by 24% to a total of Rs39.792 trillion.
In the same vein, the country’s external debt burden rose from 39% to Rs24.175 trillion.
The SBP numbers reveal that in the first two months of the current fiscal year, the cost of the federal government’s debt servicing jumped by 44% to Rs1.534 trillion.
The nation’s economy is seriously threatened by the rising level of its debt.
The government’s budget is under pressure due to the high cost of servicing this debt, which makes it challenging to fund important initiatives like healthcare and education.
IMF raises Pakistan s economic growth forecast to 2.5pc for current FY
