$12.178bn foreign debt incurred in first 8 months of FY22

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan incurred foreign debt of $12.178 billion from multiple financing sources in the first eight months (July-February) of 2021-22 including $2.623 billion from foreign commercial banks (21.5 percent) against the total budgeted external loans of $14.088 billion for the entire fiscal year.

The Economic Affairs Division (EAD) on Friday released data which shows that the government received $154.47 million from multiple financing sources in February 2022. The government has budgeted estimates of foreign assistance of $14.088 billion for the current financial year, including $13.871 billion loans and $217.44 million grants from multilateral and bilateral sources.

The external inflows during the corresponding period (July-January) of fiscal year 2020-21were $7.208billion including $3.11 billion from foreign commercial banks against the budgeted amount of $12.233 billion.

The total receipt of $12.178 billion constitutes $3.477 billion from multilateral, $203.68 million from bilateral, $2.623 billion from foreign commercial banks, and $2.041 billion from issuance of bonds and $3 billion dollars time deposit from Saudi Arabia. The non-project aid was $9.916 billion including $8.411 billion for budgetary support and project aid was $1.730 billion. Guaranteed loans were $531.01 million during the first eight months of 2021-22. The government borrowed $2.623 billion from foreign commercial banks during the first eight months of the current fiscal year including $1.140 billion from Dubai Bank, $487.26 million from SCB (London), $61 million from Ajman Bank PJSC, $343.50 million from Suisse AG, UBL and ABL and $591.25 million from Emirates NBD.

Among multilateral development partners, mainly the Asian Development Bank provided $1.100 billion, the World Bank disbursed $1.034 billion, the AIIB $38.77 million, IDB $66.67 million and IDB (S-Term) $1.189 billion.

China disbursed $100.80 million in the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year, however no amount was disbursed in February, the USA $49.67 million, Korea $4.06 million, the UK $14.54 million, and Germany $12.36 million.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022