Pakistan's Debt Soars To Prs 76,000 Billion FM Promises 'Turnaround Story' Next Year

2025-06-10 02:01:03

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

Pakistan's total public debt has ballooned to PRs 76,000 billion in the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal year, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25 released on Monday. Despite mounting financial challenges, the government has projected a modest GDP growth of 2.7% for the fiscal year, signalling what it calls a "gradual recovery."

Unveiling the survey, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the economy, which contracted in 2023, has begun to stabilise and strengthen. "This year, we announced a 2.7% growth for 2025. This is a gradual recovery and the right way to go about it is to focus on sustainable growth," he said at a press briefing.

The Economic Survey, released annually ahead of the federal budget, presents a snapshot of the government's performance across key financial metrics. The current fiscal year began on July 1, 2024.

According to the report, of the PRs 76 trillion debt, PRs 51.5 trillion was sourced domestically while PRs 24.5 trillion came from external borrowing. Despite this burden, some macroeconomic indicators are showing signs of improvement.

The finance minister highlighted that GDP growth, which was -0.2% in 2023, rose to 2.5% in 2024. Aurangzeb compared this trajectory to global GDP growth of 2.8%, adding, "The next fiscal year will be a turnaround story."

On the external front, Pakistan's current account posted a surplus of $1.9 billion between July and April of FY25. IT exports reached $3.5 billion, and remittances are expected to hit $37-38 billion by year-end, up significantly from $27 billion two years ago.

Aurangzeb also said the public debt-to-GDP ratio improved slightly, decreasing from 68% to 65%. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves improved markedly, rising to $16.64 billion in 2025-of which $11.5 billion is held by the State Bank of Pakistan and $5.14 billion by commercial banks. This is a sharp rebound from 2023, when the country had reserves covering only two weeks of imports.

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