In a first, Pakistan's debt, liabilities cross PKR 50 trillion

ISLAMABAD: The total debt and liabilities of Pakistan have crossed 50.5 trillion Pakistani rupees (PKR), of which the addition of PKR 20.7 trillion is under the current government alone, official figures released on Wednesday informed.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released the debt figures till September 2021, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan described the increasing debt as a "national security issue", Express Tribune reported.
The figures have shown that the total debt and public debt of Pakistan has been deteriorating since the Imran Khan government has come into power.
Pakistan's total debt and liabilities jumped to the record PKR 50.5 trillion at the end of September 2021, an addition of PKR 20.7 trillion in the past 39 months. There was an increase of nearly 70 per cent in total debt of the country, Express Tribune reported.
On Friday, Pakistan National Assembly was also informed that the country's public debt increased by Rs 14.9 trillion from July 2018 to June 2021 by the Ministry for Finance and Revenue.
In a written reply to a question, the house was informed that the exchange rate depreciation added around PKR 2.9 trillion (20 per cent of the increase) in public debt while the government paid PKR 7.5 trillion against interest servicing which is 50 per cent of the increase in the total public debt, reported The News International.
Like the previous government, the Pakistan Tareek-e-Insaf is also running on foreign and domestic loans and has failed to enhance revenues to such levels where its debt burden can be reduced, Express Tribune reported.