Foreign loans and Assistance in FY 2018-19 under PTI government drops drastically: Report
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ISLAMABAD - The foreign assistance and loans under the PTI government in the first half of Fiscal Year 2018-19 have dropped by over 60%, it has been revealed.
Pakistan has received $2.313 billion of its budget estimate of foreign assistance in the first half (July-December) of the current financial year 2018-19 against $5.895 billion during the same period of last year (2017-18), showing a reduction of about 60 percent.
The latest data from Economic Affairs Division (EAD) shows that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government borrowed $25 million from foreign commercial banks in December, bringing the total to $499.44 million under this head in the current fiscal year (July-Dec) 2018-19 compared to $1.163 billion during the same period last year.
The PML-N government had estimated foreign assistance of $9.69 billion for 2018-19 including $394.34 million grants and $9.297 billion in loans, as shown in the EAD data.
The country received $11.486 billion against the budgeted assistance of $8.094 billion for 2017-18 including $3.716 billion from foreign commercial banks.
According to the latest figures, the country provisionally received $422.68 million including $402.46 million in loans and $20.22 million in grants in December.
The previous government had budgeted estimates of $2 billion from foreign commercial banks for 2018-19. The country received $25 million from the consortium-led by Suisse AG, UBL and ABL in December, besides the $50 million received in November from the consortium.
