The federal government has borrowed heavily from commercial banks in a bid to meet the expenditure.
According to details, the current government sold treasury bills in order to obtain an Rs215 billion loan from commercial banks.
The government received offers of Rs646 billion compared to the banks’ target loan amount of Rs850 billion.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) sold T-bills of Rs206 billion for a three-month term, Rs6 billion for a six-month period, and Rs3 billion for a one-year term.
The central bank has sold T-bills at a higher interest rate compared to November 16. The rate on three-month T-bills increased by 129 basis points to 16.99 percent.
In the meantime, the rates on six-month T-bills and 12-month T-bills both increased by 107 basis points to 16.8 percent and 16.84 percent, respectively.
The Ministry of Finance earlier on November 29 announced that Pakistan had won $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
“Government of Pakistan has today received $500 million from AIIB. The funds are deposited with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and will augment our reserves,” the ministry said in a post on its Twitter handle.
The funding given by the AIIB is essential for the cash-strapped country, where foreign exchange reserves have already been decreasing recently. On November 18, the country’s reserves reached $7.8 billion.
“During the week ended on November 18, 2022, SBP’s reserves decreased by $134 million to $7,825.7 million due to external debt repayment,” said the SBP in a statement on Friday.
