ICST concerned over increase in debt, liabilities by 35pc

ISLAMABAD: The state of public finances is very discouraging as the country’s total debt and liabilities have exceeded the GDP, said Shahid Rasheed Butt, Patron of Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Saturday (ICST).

The recently released figures say that the budget deficit stood at 8.9 percent during 2018-19 while the debt and liabilities ballooned by Rs10.3 trillion, claimed Shahid Rasheed Butt, who is also former ICCI president.

The debt and liabilities increased by 35 percent in one year to surpass the GDP by four percent, he added.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that record devaluation of local currency added Rs4.3 trillion to the debt while interest rate hike not only damaged businesses and masses but also inflicted a loss of Rs500 billion to the public exchequer.

The government also borrowed Rs1.2 trillion from the central bank before signing a deal with IMF and now 30 percent of the budget allocations are being used to pay interest.

He informed that total circular debt has reached Rs1.7 trillion while the last year’s figures show that NHA has inflicted a loss of Rs133 billion. Energy sector losses remained at Rs130 billion; the losses of Railways were Rs41 billion, PIA lost Rs40 billion while losses of Pakistan Steel Mills remained at Rs14 billion posing a serious question about good governance.

The government is cutting subsidies to poor and export sector resulting in problems and developmental budget which was seven percent of the GDP in 1980 is now mere 2.6 percent that is taking a toll on the economy and masses.