Govt plans to raise Rs5.75tr via T-bills and bonds in April-June

KARACHI: The government aims to borrow Rs5.75 trillion from banks through treasury bills and bonds during the April-June period to finance its budget deficit and repay loans.

This amount is lower than the Rs6.75 trillion that the government planned to raise between March and May.

The government plans to raise Rs3.65 trillion through Market Treasury Bills (T-bills) with maturities of one, three, six, and 12 months. In addition, the government intends to sell fixed and floating-rate Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) with maturities of two, three, five, 10, and 15 years, seeking to borrow Rs2.1 trillion from commercial banks, according to the auction calendar issued by the State Bank of Pakistan on Tuesday.

The maturity amount for T-bills during these three months is projected to be Rs3.913 trillion.The government heavily relies on bank borrowing to meet its spending needs and repay domestic debt, largely due to low tax collection and weak financial inflows. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) provisionally collected Rs1,120 billion during March against the assigned target of Rs1,220 billion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs100 billion. The FBR collected Rs8,464 billion during July-March FY25 against the target of Rs9,167 billion, highlighting a shortfall of Rs703 billion.