Debt reaches Rs11 trillion in FY11

ASMA RAZAQ

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's domestic debt has increased by Rs 2.15 trillion in FY 11 as compared to year 2009, while the external debt and liabilities have increased by Rs 1 trillion during the same period.

According to data with Business Recorder, the country's domestic debt increased from Rs 3.86 trillion in FY09 to Rs 6.01 trillion in fiscal year 2011, and external debt and liabilities have risen to Rs 5.1 trillion in FY2011 from Rs 4.2 trillion in FY2009.

Debt from International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by Rs 349 billion from Rs 419 billion in FY 2009 to Rs 768 billion in FY 2011 while it was Rs 690 billion in FY2010.

Pakistan has already been listed at third, after Sri Lanka and Nepal, in the region in terms of highest external debt, but is comparatively on the lower side in the list of sovereign states by public debt in 2010, according to Eurostat and CIA's World Fact book 2010.  The data shows that Pakistan's total public debt, including domestic and external debt, debt from the IMF and the external liabilities had reached Rs 11 trillion in FY11 from Rs 7.8 trillion in FY09, that is 60.1 percent of total GDP.

Total external debt and liabilities are accounted for 28.6 percent of the total GDP in fiscal year 2011 while they were 33.5 percent of the GDP in FY2009.

The domestic debt of the government has increased from 30.3 percent of the GDP in FY 09 to 33.3 percent of the GDP in the fiscal year 2011.