$5.5 billion loans: Government seeking extension for repayment period: Azhar

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Division Muhammad Hammad Azhar has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is negotiating with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar to extend the periods of repayment of $ 5.5 billion loans for another two years.

Responding to a supplementary question of Shazia Marri of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) during the question-hour session of the National Assembly, the minister said the PTI government has repaid a total of $ 9.1 billion loan from September 2018 to September 2019.

He said Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have provided deposits of $ 3 billion, $ 2 billion and $ 500 million, respectively, to the State Bank of Pakistan during the ongoing tenure of the present government.

He said that Saudi Arabia deposited $ 1 billion at 3 % interest rate in November 2018 for one year and its maturity date was November 2019, another $ 1 billion deposited at 3 % interest rate in December 2018 for one year and its maturity date is December 2019, and Saudi Arabia also gave $ 1 billion in January 2019 at the same interest rate and its maturity date is January 2020.

He said the UAE gave $ 1 billion at 3 % interest rate in January 2019 for two years and its maturity date is January 2021 and another amount of $ 1 billion in March, 2019 at the same interest rate for one year and its maturity date is March 2020. He said that Qatar deposited $ 0.5 billion in January 2019 at 3 percent interest rate for four months and its maturity date was October 2019.

The minister said that these deposits have been placed with the State Bank of Pakistan. He said that 3 % interest rate being charged is concessional. He said that these deposits are, however, expected to be rolled over on the same terms and conditions.

In a written reply to a question, the minister told the house that the total debt to GDP ratio of public debt stood at 84.8 percent at end-June 2019, and it is expected that this ratio would be brought down to 83 percent by fiscal year 2019-20. He said that over the medium-term, the government's objective is to increase revenue mobilization, reduce expenditures and reform public sector enterprises (PSEs).

He said that all these measures are expected to bring stability leading to a gradual reduction in the fiscal deficit over next few years and subsequently would reduce the country's reliance on additional debt. He said that over the medium-term, public debt is expected to reduce to around 70% by fiscal year 2024.

Through another reply, the minister said a total of Rs 8.778 trillion domestic and $ 16.78 billion external loan was borrowed by Pakistan during 2013-2018 (July 2012-June 2018) and Rs 4.313 trillion domestic and $ 3.21 billion external loan was borrowed during 2018-2019 (July 2018-June 2019).

He said that Rs 1.323 trillion amount of interest on domestic and $ 1.68 billion amount of interest on external loan was paid in 2018 while Rs 1.821 trillion amount on domestic and $ 2.1 billion on external debt was paid in 2019.

Through another written reply, the Ministry for Commerce and Textile told the house that total exports of sea food, including fishing from Pakistan for the year 2018-19 are $ 438.7 million. He said that $ 438.7 million is earned by exporting only 15-20% of total seafood catch, which is below the actual potential of the sector.

Parliamentary Secretary on Planning, Development and Reform Kanwal Shauzab said that 21 energy projects worth $ 23.24 billion are part of CPEC portfolio as an investment in IPP mode. In this mode, no funds are received by the government, she said. She added that 5 infrastructure projects worth approximately USD 6.036 billion are committed out of which $ 4.987 billon have been disbursed so far.