Increase in Public Debt of PKR 18.5 triln during April 2022 to Aug 2023 comprised of PKR 2.3 trillion primary deficit, PKR 6.9 triln interest payments & PKR 9.3 triln increase in debt due to Rupee depreciation: Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD, August 19 (SABAH): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Finance Secretary and former minister for finance and revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that increase in Public Debt of PKR 18.5 trillion during April 2022 to August 2023 comprised of PKR 2.3 trillion primary deficit, PKR 6.9 trillion interest payments and PKR 9.3 trillion increase in debt due to Rupee depreciation.

This was stated by Ishaq Dar in a statement issued on twitter on Saturday. Ishaq Dar said that confluence of macroeconomic disaster and heavy foreign exchange reserves drain due to unsustainable Current Account Deficit (CAD) in PTI regime played key role in moving towards heavy depreciation of PK Rupee, ultimately emerging as the primary catalyst behind significant increase in public debt burden.

Ishaq Dar said that fiscal year(FY)22 witnessed current account deficit (CAD) of $17.5 billion, leading to substantial depletion of foreign exchange reserves, which declined by $6.4 billion in the third quarter of FY22 just before the constitutional regime change. However, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Government managed to curtail CAD to $2.6 billion in FY23, stopped country’s forex reserves depletion, ensured all sovereign liabilities timely made/managed and defeated all the domestic/international predictions about Pakistan’s imminent default.

Ishaq Dar said that real challenging area, External Debt (ED) of Pakistan was seriously confronted by PDM Government and managed to reduce it from $88.8 billion at end of FY22 to $84 billion at close of FY23.