Budget deficit climbs to Rs1.03 trillion in July-December 2018

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan witnessed its budget deficit rise to one trillion rupees in the six months (July to December) of the ongoing fiscal year, amounting to 2.7 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP).

The budget deficit for the first half of the current fiscal year FY2019 was recorded at Rs1.03 trillion (2.7 percent of the GDP), according to the latest data from the Ministry of Finance. This compares to Rs796 billion deficit that was recorded in the six months from July to December 2017 (2.2 percent of the GDP).

The government spent approximately Rs877 billion on paying domestic and foreign debt servicing. Principal and interest payments from the same period in the previous year stood at Rs752 billion.

Defence spending during July to December 2018 amounted to Rs480 billion, as opposed to Rs394 billion in the comparable six months in 2017.

The government spent Rs160.5 billion on federal developments projects in the first half of the current fiscal year.