Islamabad: The present government has received $5.6 billion in foreign loans and aid so far since assuming power in April this year, the National Assembly was informed on Friday.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said in a written reply to a question asked by the members that from April 11 to September 30, disbursement received against loans was $5.61 billion, whereas disbursement received against grants was $55.92 million. Cumulatively, the two sources take total foreign disbursements to Pakistan to $5.66 billion.
The reply also mentioned details of the total foreign loans and aid received during the reign of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
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The NA was apprised that the total borrowing during the previous government of PTI stood at $47.1 billion from August 2018 to April 2022. Laying out details about the net foreign borrowing, Ayaz said a sum of $3.5 billion was borrowed as bilateral financing, $4.5 billion was received from bonds, $15.12 billion from commercial banks, $15.58 billion from multilateral sources, $1 billion from safe deposits, $3 billion borrowed from time deposits, and $4.387 billion borrowed from International Monitory Fund (IMF).
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Separately, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar told the house that the total forex reserves of the country stood at $13.722 billion as of November 04, 2022. He said that the net forex reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were $7.957 billion, while net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $5.76 billion.
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However, he added that the reserves position reflects liquid foreign exchange reserves and does not include gold reserves, adding the current count deficit widened to $17.4 billion (4.6% of GDP) and CPI Inflation rose to 12.2% in the fiscal year 2022.
