- Pakistan’s economy continues to be in a quagmire.
- IMF rejects Imran govt’s borrowing request.
- Pakistan PM Imran Khan describes increasing debt as ‘national security issue’.
Pakistan Economy News: A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan admitted that his government did not have enough resources to spend on people’s welfare, official data showed that the country’s total debt and liabilities have crossed a whopping Rs 50.5 trillion. This is much more that Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP).
According to data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), debt amounting to Rs 20.7 trillion came under Imran Khan’s regime alone.
In June 2018, every Pakistani owed Rs 144,000, which increased to Rs 235,000 by September 2021, an additional burden of Rs 91,000 or 63% during the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure, Express Tribune reported quoting SBP data.
IMF rejects borrowing request
In further humiliation for the Imran Khan government, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has rejected Pakistan’s request to ‘keep a door open for borrowing’.
The global lender turned down Imran government’s proposal to allow it to take loans equal to 2 per cent of the GDP in a fiscal year. The IMF did not budge despite the government’s opinion that it was its constitutional right to take loans to finance its operations, Express Tribune reported.
‘Helpless’ Imran Khan
Pakistan PM Imran Khan had earlier this week expressed helplessness in resurrecting the country’s economy, saying his government lacks enough funds.
“Our biggest problem is that we don’t have enough money to run our country due to which we have to borrow loans,” Khan said.
He said that due to lack of resources the government had little to spend on the welfare of the masses. Khan said that the rising foreign debts and low tax revenue had become an issue of ‘national security’.
