News
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Pakistan’s outstanding domestic loans exceed Rs 4,300 billion
* Economic Affairs Ministry informs NA govt has borrowed Rs 440.1bn in domestic loans during current fiscal year
By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) was informed on Friday that the country’s outstanding domestic loans have crossed Rs 4,300 billion as recorded on February 1, while it obtained $2.4 billion in foreign loans from July 3, 2009 to January 31, 2010.
In a written reply to a question during question hour, the Ministry of Economic Affairs further informed the Lower House that Pakistan’s domestic loan portfolio contains short-term and long-term instruments with fixed and floating interest rates. It said the government paid Rs 295.3 billion as interest on domestic loans during July 2009 and January 2010.
Borrowed: During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the government borrowed Rs 440.1 billion in domestic loans.
Elaborating on foreign loans, the ministry said the amount of outstanding foreign loans (public and publicly guaranteed) had reached $44.2 billion by February 1, while another $9.89 billion was also payable as interest until the maturity of these loans.
To another query, the ministry told the Lower House that the World Bank provided $2,685.284 million in financial assistance to Pakistan from January 2007 to December 2009.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk