Business Recorder op-ed writer Farhat Ali has ably presented the history of circular debt in the country. The facts cited by him in this regard constitute a sardonic comment on the state of governance of successive governments. The PPP government of Asif Zardari is said to have inherited a circular debt of only Rs 108 billion. The PML government started its tenure in May 2013 with a circular debt of around Rs 500 billion, which means that the PPP government had added Rs 400 billion to circular debt.
The incumbent PTI government has inherited a circular debt of Rs 1.1 trillion. As of today, circular debt is said to be standing around Rs 1.4 trillion. Both PPP and PML-N governments had failed to rein in the menace of circular debt. Unfortunately, however, the present government appears to be no different from its predecessors in this regard.