Pakistan to repay foreign debt, old dues

Islamabad: Pakistan is scheduled to repay the foreign debt over the 12-month period and the old dues.
According to The Express Tribune citing Optimus Capital Management, Pakistan is scheduled to pay the foreign debt and bear debt servicing costs worth USD 26.3 billion over the 12-month period (November to October). "The 12-month forward external principal and interest liabilities surged to USD 26.3 billion, which includes USD 8.9 billion in December 2022 and January 2023," the securities firm said in a short commentary.
Over the past 11 months, Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have depleted to critically low levels. This is despite inflows of fresh loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) in recent months.
The widening gap between rising debt repayment and depleting reserves has put the country in a precarious situation. The economic managers are on their toes and are clarifying almost every day that the country would not default on debt repayments and would successfully make all the international payments on time, according to The Express Tribune.
The Pakistani government is trying every tactic to control the rising imports. For that, they have been using administrative measures since the start of the current fiscal year on July 1, 2022, to manage limited foreign exchange reserves.
The continued delay in the IMF's ninth review of the economy under its USD 6.5 billion loan programme has continued to tighten the foreign payment situation for the country.
Earlier, the country was estimated to repay USD 21.1 billion in the current fiscal year 2023 (July 2022 to June 2023). In the prior fiscal year 2022, it repaid USD 18.7 billion in external principal and interest liabilities, reported The Express Tribune.
Before this, it paid USD 16.8 billion in FY21, USD 15.9 billion in FY20 and retired foreign debt and paid interest money totalling USD 11 billion in the fiscal year of 2019, according to the brokerage house's data. (ANI)