Pakistan heading towards severe debt trap
Click here to View Printed Statements
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Wednesday said country would need 10.8 billion dollar to repay foreign debt in the on-going fiscal.
Policymakers are pinning hopes on foreign direct investment of privatisation to repay loans as it can only spare 6.5 billion dollars to discharge international obligations, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
It appears that government will have to borrow more from international lenders to repay loans.
He said that the government has also borrowed three trillion rupees from domestic sources during the last fiscal year pushing up debt from Rs 14 trillion to Rs 17 trillion.
The incumbent government whose top officials frequently criticised former government for rackless borrowing has been obtaining 300 percent more funds from local lenders than what the PPP-led government used to borrow from domestic sources, he noted.
Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that government income was Rs 275 billion less than the projected figures while its expenditure exceeded by Rs 112 billion during the same period which is contrary to the pre-poll promises of PML-N.
