- Among the bilateral creditors of Pakistan, China is at the top.
- More than half of Pakistan’s external debt comes from multilaterals.
- Public external debt increased by $ 2.5 billion during the 2010s.
Islamabad: approximately 92% of Pakistan’s external debt is due by three major sources, including multilateral and bilateral creditors as well as through international bonds.
Among the bilateral creditors, China is at the top while keeping the total of the debt and external liabilities.
Total debt and liabilities are calculated after incorporating the national and external debt payable from the consolidated fund, IMF loans for the support of the balance of payments, the debt of public enterprises, debt for operations of raw materials and external debt of the private sector.
However, public debt excludes debt from public enterprises, debt to the operation of raw materials and the external debt of the private sector. Total public debt is calculated on the basis of the national and external debt payable from the consolidated fund and IMF loans for the support of the BOP.
From now on, debt and total external liabilities amounted to $ 133 billion, but public external debt in accordance with the definition of the tax liability law and the limitation of debt (FRDLA), was 88.578 billion Dollars until the end of September 2024.
The Ministry of Finance has prepared a declaration of debt policy for January 2025, but so far, it has not yet been established in Parliament. The process of obtaining the approval of the federal firm has been underway.
However, the sources said that the government had also missed the deadline to issue a debt bulletin report until the end of September 2024 under the World Bank loan conditions, but this was done in October 2024.
The total external debt continued to increase in the first quarter 25 in the first quarter to $ 88.7 billion in September 2024.
In terms of composition of the external debt, the salient characteristics illustrate that more than half of the external debt of Pakistan (56% to September 24) comes from multilateral lenders, including WB, BDA, IMF and others.
The second major source of external debt comes from bilateral partners, including the Paris Club, which holds around 28% of the external debt. 14% of the external debt comes from commercial sources; 8% of international bond emissions and 6% of commercial banks.
During financial year 24, the stock of external debt (in USD) experienced a net increase of 3% in annual sliding, while the share of external debt in total public debt rose from 38% (23 June) at 34% (June 24).
However, exposure to external debt is still within the maximum limit of 40% as planned in MTDs but remains sensitive to the movement of exchange rates.
The rupture of external debt shows that the majority of loans are obtained from multilateral financial institutions and bilateral sources.
These types of loans are contracted at low or concessional rates with long -term tenors compared to commercial sources.
In September-24, 84% of loans come from multilateral and bilateral sources.
External public debt increased by $ 2.5 billion in 2010 and $ 2 billion in late September 2024. The total disbursement of external loan amounted to $ 9.8 billion during Exercise 24.
The disbursements came mainly from multilateral and bilateral sources. The main disbursements from bilateral sources included time deposits of 2 billion dollars in Saudi Arabia and $ 1 billion from the United Arab Emirates as deposits with the Central Bank.
The main disbursements of multilateral sources included $ 2.2 billion in the World Bank, $ 1.3 billion in the AfDB and $ 345 million in AIIB.