ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Finance has described as misleading andfactually incorrect a news report published in a section of press claimingthat the government’s foreign borrowing increased by 5.5 billion dollarsduring July-Dec 2019 period.
In a statement issued today (Saturday), the Ministry of Finance contendedthat reporting gross external debt inflows only presents one side of thepicture, ignoring outflows on account of repayments, which are the otherside of the picture, and a prerequisite to calculate the net or actualincrease in external indebtedness of the country.
Whereas, the reported gross disbursement was 5.5 billion dollars duringJuly-December 2019, deducting the 3.8 billion dollars which the governmentpaid back during the said period leaves a net figure of 1.7 billiondollars. Therefore, the real addition was 1.7 billion dollars, not 5.5billion dollars as claimed by a section of the press.
The Ministry further clarified that gross external public debt inflowsduring FY 2018-19 were recorded at 10.5 billion dollars and not 16 billiondollars as claimed by a section of the press.
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Similarly, the government repaid 7.4 billion dollars during last fiscalyear, resulting in net increase of 3.1 billion dollars in external publicdebt and not 16 billion dollars as claimed.
