The Pakistani government has borrowed an additional Rs276.78 billion during the week ending January 31, 2025, bringing the total debt for the ongoing fiscal year 2025 to Rs1.3 trillion, as reported by the central bank’s weekly estimates.
The borrowings are categorized into three main sectors: budgetary support, commodity operations, and other purposes.
For budgetary support, the government borrowed Rs280.03 billion, while Rs3.28 billion was used to retire debts related to commodity operations. Additionally, Rs37.54 million was borrowed for various other purposes during the week.
This brings the cumulative debt for the current fiscal year to Rs1.07 trillion for budgetary support, Rs228.23 billion for commodity operations, and Rs0.97 billion for other purposes.
The two largest sources of financing for the government’s budgetary support are the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and scheduled banks. During this fiscal year, the government has repaid Rs461.58 billion to the central bank. The Federal Government borrowed Rs254.56 billion, while the Provincial Government repaid Rs690.19 billion. Additionally, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Government repaid Rs22.65 billion, and the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Government repaid Rs3.3 billion.
As for the scheduled banks, the government has repaid a total of Rs613.08 billion. The Federal Government contributed Rs565.95 billion towards this repayment, while the Provincial Government settled Rs47.13 billion.
In total, the government’s debt management strategy reflects continued borrowing to meet budgetary needs and other operational costs, while also retiring substantial amounts from various sectors to manage fiscal balance.
