The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected an increase in government gross debt by 1.9 percent to 78.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020 against 76.7 percent in 2019. According to the IMF report "Fiscal Monitor, How to Mitigate Climate Change," it is projected that the government gross debt would rise to 78.6 percent of the GDP in 2020 and decrease to 76.1 percent in 2021.
The Fund has projected an increase in government net debt by 2.7 percent - to 75.2 percent of GDP in 2020 against 72.5 percent in 2019. Earlier this year the net debt was projected to increase to 72.7 percent of the GDP in 2019 and 75.3 percent in 2020 against 67.2 percent in 2018.
According to the report, government revenue is projected to increase by 3.5 percent to 16.3 percent of the GDP in 2020 against 12.8 percent during the same period of 2019. However, the Fund had earlier projected that the government revenue would reach to 14.9 percent of GDP in 2019 and 14.8 percent by 2020 against 15.3 percent during the same period of 2018.
The government expenditure is projected to increase to 23.6 percent of GDP in 2020 as compared to 21.6 percent in 2019, and projected to decrease to 23.3 percent by 2021. The government expenditure was earlier projected to reach 22.2 percent of GDP in 2019 and 23.3 percent in 2020 compared to 21.8 percent in 2018.
The Fund projected Pakistan budget deficit at 7.4 percent for 2020 against 8.8 percent for 2019. The Fund earlier this year had projected budget deficit at 7.2 percent for 2019 and 8.7 percent for 2020. According to the report, there would be gross financing need of about 45.6 percent of the GDP in 2019. The country's debt to average maturity is estimated at 72.2 percent of GDP in 2019.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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