Govt’s debt grows by Rs247.89 billion in a week: SBP report

The government has taken on an extra Rs247.89 billion in debt for the week ending August 30. This new borrowing pushes the total government debt for the fiscal year 2025 up to Rs439.67 billion, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

For those unaware how this is categorised, the borrowing falls into three main categories: budget support, commodity operations, and other expenses.

Out of the total Rs247.89 billion borrowed in the said week, Rs248.84 billion was used to support the budget, Rs951.06 million was spent by the government on commodity operations, and Rs0.97 million went to various other needs.

Considering yearly borrowing, the government has borrowed a sum of Rs680.95 billion for budget support, Rs239.54 billion for commodity operations, and Rs1.74 billion for other expenses.

The main sources of this funding are the central bank and scheduled banks.

Shockingly, the government has already borrowed Rs44.13 billion from the State Bank this year.

The Federal Government has repaid Rs176.62 billion, while the Provincial Government has borrowed Rs246.34 billion.

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Government has repaid Rs14.79 billion, and the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Government has repaid Rs10.8 billion.

Scheduled banks released Rs636.82 billion in loans, with Rs660.33 billion going to the Federal Government.