TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The country borrowed $5.968 billion from multiple financing sources during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $5.595 billion borrowed during the same period of 2022-23, revealed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data.

Data further shows that the country received $1.621 billion in December 2023 compared to $478.05 million in December 2022.

The government has budgeted $2.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the current fiscal year 2023-24 and received $1.2 billion as the first tranche of the $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in July 2023, however, the EAD data does not reflect it. Further, there is no mention of $1 billion disbursed by the UAE. If the IMF and UAE inflows are added, the total inflows would reach $8.168 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year.

The $5.968 billion included $2 billion received from Saudi Arabia under the head of time deposit during July 2023. The data further shows that the government had budgeted estimates of $4.5 billion from the foreign commercial banks for the current fiscal year 2023-24, however, no money was received under this head during the first half of the current fiscal year.

The government had budgeted $1.5 billion from the issuance of bonds, however, the country is yet to issue the bonds, hence no amount is received so far.

The government had budgeted $17.619 billion from multiple financing sources for the current fiscal year including $17.384 billion loans and $234.60 million grants.

The country received $491.45 million under the head of “Naya Pakistan Certificate” during the first half of the current fiscal year 2023-24.

The country received $2.245billion from multilaterals and $723.13 million from bilateral during July-December 2023-24. The non-project aid was $3.581 billion including $2.636 billion for budgetary support and project aid was $2.386 billion.

China disbursed $508.34 million under the head guaranteed for the JF-17 B project funded by China National Aero-technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC). China further disbursed 42.18 million in July-December against the government budgeted of $18.54 million for the current fiscal year.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) disbursed $589.43 million during the period under review compared to the budgeted $2.086 billion for the fiscal year 2023-24.