Foreign loan $9.7 billion: domestic debt stands at Rs 6.29 trillion, National Assembly told

The total domestic debt obtained by the government during the last five years stands at Rs 6,290.6 billion while the net foreign loan is $9.7 billion. Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Ishaq Dar informed the National Assembly on Friday in a written response to a question asked by MNA Muhammad Shahbaz Babar. The domestic loans have maturity from 3 months to 20 years while foreign loan will be repaid till 2060 depending upon respective loan amortisation schedule, he said.
The minister also informed the house that the government has achieved macroeconomic stability in the last three years through reducing energy shortages, higher revenue collection, widening of tax base, significant reduction in fiscal deficit and infrastructure development. He said the fiscal consolidation efforts are on track to reduce the reliance on loans since government has successfully curtailed the fiscal deficit from 8.2 percent of GDP in 2012-13 to 4.6 percent in 2015-16 due to enhanced revenue mobilisation and prudent expenditure management.
Fiscal consolidation will continue as the government has made amendments to the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act's by defining the ceiling for the federal government budget deficit at 4 percent of GDP (excluding foreign grants) during the period 2017-18 to 2019-20 and; 3.5 percent of GDP thereafter, he said. The minister said that accordingly, total public debt shall be reduced to 60 percent of GDP until 2017-18, and thereafter a 15-year transition period has been set towards reduction of debt-to-GDP ratio at 50 per cent.
This position clearly indicates that government is making out all its efforts to reduce its reliance on loans in future, he said. To another question, the Finance Minister also informed the house that the present government has obtained $15.527 billion external economic assistance from different foreign governments and organisations in addition with another $6.2 billion from International Monetary Fund.
An amount of $7.54 billion has been paid back to discharge the liability of the Standby Agreement, Emergency Natural Disaster Assistance and Extended Credit Facility agreed with the IMF by the previous governments, he said. The minister said that in addition an amount of $1.81 billion has been obtained from commercial sources for budgetary support and balance of payment.
Under the economic assistance, the government received $2,964.19 million from China for energy, infrastructure, transport, environment, education etc, $52.89 million from France for water sector and hydropower projects, $129.99 million from Germany for health, education and microfinance etc, $470.23 from Japan for water sector, education and energy etc, $12.84 million from Korea for power sector, $79.65 from Kuwait for education, power etc, $1.98 million from Norway for institutional cooperation, $9.9 million from Oman for development sector, $134.38 million from Saudi Arabia for hydropower, infrastructure etc, $964.93 million from United Kingdom for health education and social sector, according to the details presented in the house.
The details further show the present government obtained $403.52 million from United States for education, governance, power, energy etc, $2520.59 from Asian Development Bank for water sector, energy, infrastructure etc, $2942.39 million from Islamic Development Bank for energy, education, health etc, $4594.08 million from World Bank for energy, infrastructure, transport etc, $24.62 million from International Fund for Agricultural Development for poverty reduction, $44.13 million from Opec Fund for energy, education, communication etc, $60.2 million from Dubai Bank for oil import finance, $65 million from E.C.O.T/Bank for trade finance facility and federal government financing and $52.11 million from EU for education sector and Sindh Union Council. The minister informed the house that the economic assistance received from these countries and organisations has been utilised for its real cause and actual purposes.