Pakistan's external debt stands at $53.4 billion, NA informed

ISLAMABAD (Staff Report) - The National Assembly was Thursday informed that total external debt of the country stands at $53.4 billion.

During the session, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan sai that when the incumbent government took over, these were 48.1 billion dollars as external debts and there is an increase of 5.3 billion dollars during last three years.

Rana Muhammad Afzal said that through prudent policies, the government has succeeded to reduce fiscal deficit from 8.4 percent to 5.5 percent and it will further be reduced to 5.1 percent this year.

Responding to different queries, Parliamentary Secretary for Interior Maryam Aurangzeb informed the House that a number of terrorists have been arrested in Punjab during the operation.

She pointed out that combing operation, Madrasa registration and action against hate speech and material are being taken throughout the country.

The Parliamentary Secretary said steps of the government to control incidents of terrorism in Karachi resulted in significant reduction in incidents of terrorism.

To a question, she said a total of 251, 624 Pakistani nationals have been repatriated to Pakistan from abroad during the tenure of the present government from 1st June, 2013 to February this year.