Sunday, August 18, 2019
By
Web Desk

'PTI government to present its report of failures today'

By
Web Desk
|
Marriyum Aurangzeb says there has been an unprecedented 7.6 trillion increase in debt over the last year. Photo: File

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said, the illegitimate and incompetent government will proudly present its report of failures today.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government which completes its first year in power today will present its performance report in different sectors during the past year.

“Today Imran Khan is forming an inquiry commission to inquire the unprecedented 7.6 trillion increase in debt over last one year due to his incompetence!,” Aurangzeb said on Twitter.

She added, “The federal government debt stock rose from Rs24.2 trillion as on 3-6-2018 to Rs31.8 trillion as on 30-6-2019, showing an increase of a staggering Rs7.6 trillion or 31 percent.”

“At a GDP of 38.6 trillion, this comes as 82.4 per cent of GDP. This is an unprecedented increase in a single year. It is necessary, therefore, to examine the causes that have led to such an increase,” the PML-N leader added.

Criticising the government, Aurangzeb said, the domestic debt increased from Rs16.4 trillion to Rs20.7 trillion showing an increase of Rs4.3 trillion. “External debt rose from Rs7.8 trillion to Rs11.1 trillion, showing an increase of Rs3.3 trillion or 42 per cent,” she tweeted.

She further said the last fiscal year has seen an unprecedented increase in the interest rate. Starting from 6.5 per cent at the beginning of the fiscal year, the interest rate has increased to 12.25 percent at the close, nearly doubling.

“We now examine the impact of devaluation. Based on the budget documents, Pakistan has borrowed Rs1,403 billion in external loans while it has paid back Rs929 billion in foreign loans,” Aurangzeb said, adding “Net external borrowing of Rs474 billion. Subtracting this from Rs3,300 billion leaves Rs2,826 billion as the capital loss on external debt.”

This is an unprecedented capital loss due to rupee devaluation, which depreciated from Rs124.5 to Rs163 per dollar during the financial year.