In August 2023, the total public debt of the federal government surged by29 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, according tomonthly data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The debt stock rose to Rs. 63.996 trillion in August 2023, up from Rs.49.572 trillion in August 2022, marking an increase of Rs. 14.394 trillion.On a month-to-month basis, the federal government’s total public debtincreased by Rs. 2.22 trillion, rising from Rs. 61.748 trillion in July2023.
Breaking down the data, the domestic debt of the central government grewby 23.8 percent, reaching Rs. 39.792 trillion in August 2023, up from Rs.32.153 trillion in August 2022. This includes both long-term public debt,which increased from Rs. 24.562 trillion to Rs. 30.013 trillion, andshort-term debt, which rose from Rs. 7.484 trillion to Rs. 9.633 trillionover the past year.
Within the long-term debt category, the government raised Rs. 5.32trillion through Federal Government Bonds, including Pakistan InvestmentBonds and GOP Ijara Sukuk and Bai-Muajjal of Sukuk. The total debt stock ofFederal Government Bonds increased from Rs. 20.478 trillion in August 2022to Rs. 25.810 trillion in August 2023.
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Additionally, the government raised Rs. 6 billion through the issuance ofPrize Bonds in one year. In terms of SBP’s on-lending to the GOP againstSDRs allocation, the public debt remained at the same level of Rs. 475billion. However, the unfunded debt decreased to Rs. 2,933 billion from Rs.3,220 billion.
Foreign currency loans also saw a significant increase, rising to Rs. 410billion from Rs. 9 billion during the period. The report highlights thatthe external debt of the central government increased to Rs. 24.175trillion from Rs. 17.419 trillion during this period, representing a 39percent increase.
