July-March 2021-22: Country incurs foreign debt of $12.767bn

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan incurred foreign debt of US 12.767 billion dollars from multiple financing sources in the first nine months (July-March 2021-22) including $ 2.623 billion from foreign commercial banks (20.5 percent) against the total budgeted external loans of $ 14.088 billion for the entire fiscal year.

The Economic Affairs Division (EAD) on Wednesday released data which shows that the country received $ 588.97 million from multiple financing sources in March 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-March) of fiscal year 2020-21 were $ 7.413billion including $ 3.120 billion from foreign commercial banks against the budgeted amount of $ 12.233 billion.

The total receipt of $ 12.767 billion constitutes $ 3.949 billion from multilateral, $ 320.43 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 $ 10.114 billion including $ 8.882 billion for budgetary support and project aid was $ 1.820 billion. Guaranteed loans were $ 531.01 million during the first nine months of 2021-22.

The government borrowed $ 2.623 billion from foreign commercial banks during the first nine 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 $ 1.436 billion, the World Bank disbursed $ 1.122 billion, the AIIB $ 38.87 million, IDB $ 68.16 million and IDB (S-Term) $ 1.207 billion. China disbursed $ 102.05 million in the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, USA $ 60.85 million, Korea $ 4.06 million, UK $ 14.54 million, and Germany $ 12.36 million.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022