Staff Reporter Islamabad
The Ministry of Finance has informed that the per capita debt of Pakistan jumped to Rs 175, 000 at the end of last fiscal year a 46 percent increase within two years.
As per details, in the first year of the PTI government, there was a 28 percent increase in the per capita debt, while in the second the debt rose by 14 percent.
The Ministry apprised the National Assembly that the per capita debt jumped to Rs175, 000 at the end of the last fiscal year – an additional burden of Rs 54,901 or 46 percent on every citizen within two years.
In the Fiscal Policy Statement of 2020-21, the ministry acknowledged that the government defied the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act of 2005 by failing to alleviate the federal fiscal deficit to 4 percent of the size of the national economy.
As per the financial statement presented, the current expenditures were at a 28-year high level in FY19-20, whereas the development spending was the lowest in a decade in terms of the total size of the economy.
The Ministry in the statement said that total expenditures in terms of the size of the economy were at the highest level in 21 years — at 23.1% of GDP. The public debt was recorded at Rs 36.4 trillion at the end of June 2020 which means per person debt increased by Rs 21,311 or 14% in the last year, the report mentioned.
Citing the situation in June 2018, the ministry said the total public debt was Rs24.9 trillion and the finance ministry at that time worked out the per capita debt at Rs120, 099.
The Fiscal Policy Statement showed that the federal and provincial governments cumulatively collected Rs1.1 trillion or 15% fewer taxes compared to the targets. But their expenditures too were Rs854 billion or 8% lower than the budget figures.
