Pakistan’s Central Govt Debt Crosses Rs. 70 Trillion in August 2024

The total public debt stock of the federal government increased by 10 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in August 2024 as compared to the same month of the last year.  According to the monthly data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the debt stock increased to Rs. 70.362 trillion in August 2024 as compared to Rs. 63.970 trillion in August 2023.  On a month-on-month basis, the total public debt stock of the federal government increased by 1 percent from Rs. 69.623 trillion recorded in July 2024.  The data shows that the domestic debt of the central government increased by 21 percent from Rs. 39.795 trillion in August 2023 to Rs. 48.339 trillion in August 2024.  Out of total domestic debt, the long-term public debt increased from Rs. 30.013 trillion to Rs. 37.298 trillion and the stock of short-term debt increased from Rs. 9.636 trillion to Rs. 10.961 trillion during the last year.  Brokerage house Topline Securities highlighted that the central bank government debt to GDP ratio has come down to 65 percent in August 2024 from 73 percent in August 2023 mainly due to decline in external debt to GDP ratio from 27.6 percent of GDP to 20.2 percent of GDP in August 2024.  It said that the external debt to GDP has declined primarily due to currency appreciation from PKR/USD of 305.61 in August 2023 to 278.57 in August 2024.