Pakistan’s international debt burden has continued to rise and reached a substantial $63.966 billion by the end of August in FY2023-34. A briefing session regarding the country’s debt revealed that the foreign debt had surged to $24.174 billion by the end of August, while the local debt had reached Rs 39.791 billion during the same period.
Data presented during the briefing showed that over the past year, the total loans had increased significantly by Rs 14,506 billion. It’s worth noting that in August 2022, the loan volume was comparatively lower at Rs 49.571 billion. At the same time, the foreign debt of the country stood at $18 trillion, and the local debt was at Rs 32,152 billion.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had demanded a tax collection plan of Rs 6,670 billion from Pakistan until June 2024. An IMF review mission arrived in Pakistan to assess the country’s economic performance in the first three months of the current fiscal year, from July to September. The IMF emphasized the importance of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) meeting its tax collection revenue targets.
Furthermore, the IMF team requested a report on the progress of tax cases pending in courts from the FBR, and the FBR shared details of one million new taxpayers added to the tax net. The IMF also called for information on tax collection from various sectors, with discussions focused on increasing the number of taxpayers from 4.9 million to 10 million.
