*ISLAMABAD – Yet another claim of the former PML N government led by PMNawaz Sharif has been exposed.*
*PML Nawaz government had claimed that budget deficit has been brought downto 4.1% but the actual figures revealed that the deficit is around 6.6% ofthe GDP.*
*The budget deficit in the last fiscal year, the PML-N’s last year inoffice, was Rs2.26 trillion.*
The statement of revenue and expenditures for the last year revealed thatthe deficit was 6.6% of the GDP.
Former finance minister Ishaq Dar of the PML-N government, which completedits term on May 31, had set a target of 4.1% of the GDP for fiscal year,which ended on June 30, 2018, but ended up 2.5 percentage points higher.This is the highest budget deficit since 2013 when it reached 8.2% of theGDP.
In its five-year term, the former government increased tax revenue from9.6% to 13% of the GDP but expenditures during this period also rose from21% to 21.8% of the GDP.
Being in a deficit means, the country spends more and earns less. Unable toincrease its revenue, Pakistan has heavily relied on borrowing, mostlyshort-term, from both local and foreign institutions to meet its financingneeds.
With the country’s national debt touching Rs27 trillion, it is trapped in acycle where it takes more loans to service the previous debt and is leftwith little money to spend on development