According to a central bank statement, the administration of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) added Rs18.5 trillion to the public debt in just 15 months, which was more than its archrival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf did in its three and a half years in office.
The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) monthly debt bulletin shows that by the end of the fiscal year 2022–23, the gross public debt had increased from Rs44.4 trillion in March 2022 to Rs62.9 trillion. Due to the lack of effective strategies to control it, debt grew by 41.7% in just 15 months. As a result, by the end of June, the federal government’s debt, which is directly under the finance ministry’s control, had increased to Rs60.8 trillion.
The debt report released on Wednesday shows that during the PDM government’s one-year and three-month tenure, there was an increase of Rs18 trillion. Due to unchecked spending, lower-than-expected tax collection from industries including real estate, services, and agriculture, as well as the depreciating value of the rupee versus the dollar, the national debt has been growing at an unsustainable rate.
During its 44-month employment, the government of former prime minister Imran Khan added Rs 18.1 trillion to the national debt; the Shehbaz Sharif administration did the same in just 15 months. The central bank has not yet compiled the debt figures for July.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) contributed Rs18 trillion to the debt stock between 2008 and 2018, indicating the speed at which the public debt is growing.
Imran Khan’s administration increased economic output by Rs18 trillion between August 2018 and March 2022. And now, in just 15 months, the PDM administration has added Rs18.5 trillion.
The PTI government increased the public debt by an average of Rs14.5 billion per day from September 1, 2018, to the end of March 2022, more than double the average increase of Rs5.6 billion per day during the PML-N period.
Currently, the PDM government increased the debt stock by an average of Rs41 billion per day. 83.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) before the economy was rebased, or Rs44.4 trillion, was the total public debt at the end of the PTI government’s term. After rebasing, the public debt dropped by 15% of GDP, although there was no absolute reduction.
