No violation of debt limitation Act: NA told

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly was informed Monday that the government had not violated the Fiscal responsibility and Debt Limitation Act 2005.

Minister of State for Production, Khawaja Sheraz Mahmood told the House in response to a calling attention notice that debt to GDP ratio stands at 52.6 percent against the provision of drawing loans to the tune of 60 percent of GDP. He rejected the claim made in the notice that public debt of the government had increased by 82 percent amounting to 10.996 trillion for the last four years. "Although the figure quoted is correct yet the government has not exceeded the limits rather its fiscal responsibility has brought down this ratio even before the deadline," Sheraz stated.

Members Muhammad Pervaiz malik, Nuzhat sadiq, Surriya Asghar, Malik Shakir Bashir Awan and Shireen Arshad Khan had drawn the attention of the minister towards what they had claimed that the government had violated the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act.

The minister agreed the figure but said, it has not exceeded the limit and the Act has not been violated. "We are maintaining the debt to GDP ratio and it is within the limits."

Answering a question, he explained that under the Act, the debt to GDP ratio had to be maintained to 60 percent of the GDP by 2013 but the government through its responsible fiscal policies has achieved this target even before time.

He added that the government will have to bring down the revenue deficit to zero level by 2013. But, this has become a difficult target and we are lagging behind in this area.