Debt-ridden Pakistan's reliance on foreign commercial loans rise

Even as Pakistan's foreign debt and liabilities continue to mount, its reliance on foreign commercial loans has been increasing at rapid pace as the country obtained USD 3.110 billion through this head out of a total of USD 7.2 billion external loan inflows during the first eight months (July-February) period of the current fiscal year.

According to The News International, the foreign commercial loans of USD 3.11 billion and USD 1 billion from Chinese deposits helped the government to achieve the net transfer of dollar inflows in the current fiscal year.

With the combination of foreign commercial loans and safe deposits, Pakistan received over USD 4.1 billion that was over 50 per cent out of the total received foreign dollar inflows from creditors.

The news outlet reported that according to official data of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), during July-February of the fiscal year 2020-21, the Imran Khan government has received USD 7.208 billion total external inflows from multiple financing sources, which are 59 per cent of annual budget estimates of $12.233 billion for the entire fiscal year 2020-21.

The News International further reported; disbursement from multilateral and bilateral development partners also maintained a strong trend and is $3.098 billion during the period under review against the budgetary allocation of $5.811 billion for the fiscal year 2020-21 on concessional terms with longer maturity. These healthy inflows also helped to improve foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability.

The Pakistan outlet claims in its official report that increased level of external inflows from multilateral and bilateral development partners is indicative of their confidence in development priorities and policies of the government, including implementation of reforms in the priority areas of fiscal and debt management, energy sector and ease of doing business.

A debt-ridden Pakistan has received a total of USD 7.21 billion in total external inflows from multiple financing sources during the period of July 2020 to February 2021, according to a report by Foreign Economic Assistance.

The total numbers amount to about 59 per cent of the country's annual budget estimates for this fiscal year, which stands at USD 12.23 billion, ARY News reports.

This year's figures saw an increase of 8 per cent as compared to figures for last year, where the government borrowed 51 per cent of its annual budget.

A debt-ridden Pakistan has received a total of USD 7.21 billion in total external inflows from multiple financing sources during the period of July 2020 to February 2021, according to a report by Foreign Economic Assistance.

The total numbers amount to about 59 per cent of the country's annual budget estimates for this fiscal year, which stands at USD 12.23 billion, ARY News reports.

This year's figures saw an increase of 8 per cent as compared to figures for last year, where the government borrowed 51 per cent of its annual budget.

The debt servicing of funds borrowed earlier in the same period stood at USD 3.47 billion, the ministry said.

Last month, the Imran Khan government received USD 6.7 billion in gross foreign loans in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, including a new commercial loan of USD 500 million from China last month, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

( With inputs from ANI )