Pakistan’s budget recorded a deficit of 1.54 trillion rupee, or 1.2 % of GDP, in the first half of the fiscal year 2024-25, after a statistical variation of 0.43 trillion rupee converting a preliminary surplus into a deficit. The deficit appears before the first review of the international talks in the International Monetary Fund (the International Monetary Fund) under the $ 7 billion -dollar fund facility (EFF), scheduled later this month.
In the first quarter (from July to September), the budget recorded a surplus, due to a large extent to a lump reservation for the profits of the State Bank in Pakistan (SBP). However, by the end of December, the financial position turned into a deficit, as total revenues and expenditures failed to completely reconcile.
The statistical contradiction of the federal government was recorded at 0.23 trillion rupee, while Punjab, Sindh, Chyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) showed 098 trillion rupee, RS0.22 trillion, and RS0.34 trillion, respectively. Balochistan recorded a negative contrast of RS0.53 trillion.
According to the financial operations report of the Ministry of Finance, the debt and defensive spending service represents the largest share of expenses, while spending on development has been, especially in light of the Federal Public Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), low.
The use of Federal PSDP 032 trillion rupees in the first six months, a decrease from 0.22 trillion rupees in the first quarter, while providing governments spent 0.639 trillion rupees on development projects.
Debt service costs reached 5.14 trillion rupee in the first half of the fiscal year. After six discounts in successive policy prices, the Ministry of Finance reviewed the dropping of its debt service for the 2015 fiscal year down from 9.7 trillion rupee to 8.7 trillion rupee.
The total revenue for the first six months reached 9.76 trillion rupee, with 6 trillion rupee trillion through tax revenues and 3.69 trillion rupee from non -tax sources.
Meanwhile, total expenditures at 11.3 trillion rupees, with debt service remaining the largest expenses of 5.14 trillion rupees, followed by defensive spending at 0.89 trillion rupees.
The budget deficit was funded by a mixture of external and local borrowing, with clear external borrowing at 5.78 trillion rupee, while local borrowing reached 1.61 trillion rupees.
While Pakistan is preparing for the International Monetary Fund review talks, the government faces pressure to manage its financial balance amid the high costs of debt service and low spending on development.
