The Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Statistics, Hina Rabbani Khar on Monday informed the National Assembly that government has to pay 433 loans worth 22 billion dollars to World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and IFAD.
She also informed the House that the total volume of domestic borrowing of government as on 30-09-2008 is Rs 3373.8 billion. "This amount of money, the government borrowed from SBP, commercial banks and national saving schemes while the interest rate ranges from three percent to 16.8 percent", she added.
Hina said that the interest paid on the said borrowing during 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 is Rs 176.3 billion, Rs 202.5 billion and Rs 326.9 billion, respectively.
In a written reply, she said that the profit earned by the commercial banks during January-December 2007 and January-June 30, 2008 is Rs 33,159.8 million and added that the total loans worth Rs 2.7 billion have been sanctioned for promotion of livestock.
While responding to a question, she told the Lower House that IMF programme is a short-term stand-by arrangement (SBA) with tenure of 23 months for an amount of 7.6 billion dollars. She said that the programme does not cause any adverse impact on taxpayers in the country.
"In 5-7 years, tax to GDP ratio will be raised to 15 percent through improved collection, strict enforcement and tax compliance, broadening of the base of existing taxes and simplification in assessment procedures", Hina disclosed.
In a written reply, she said that the amount of foreign exchange remitted by the overseas Pakistanis during FY 2007-08 was 6,451 million dollars denoting an increase of 17.4 percent over the same period of last fiscal.
Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Commerce, Noor Alam Khan, while responding to a question said that Pakistan exported 9.066 MT of shrimps in 2007-08 for 40.8 billion dollars. The quantity of shrimps landing at the harbours in Pakistan is estimated at 25,000 MT annually.
"As the international trade in shrimp is estimated at 14.5 billion dollars and production at six million MT, Pakistan has the potential of increasing shrimps export provided the supply chain is brought in conformity with internationally acceptable sanitary and safety standards."
He said that no regular import of milk products has been made from China during the last four months. Only dry milk powder of 5,800 kg was imported during the said period from China.
In a written reply, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Privatisation said that the total foreign exchange earned through privatisation of government assets during 2006-07 was 1.5 billion dollars while the total amount of money earned from 2004 to 2006 was 3.4 billion dollars.