Pakistan interest bill may exceed Rs8 trillion this year
Interest costs already outpace defence and development spending, while the federal deficit stays near Rs7 trillion and the IMF sees the bill climbing past Rs10 trillion by FY2031.
Interest payments are projected at Rs8.054 trillion in the current fiscal year and may rise after the State Bank lifted the policy rate to 12%.
Debt servicing has already outpaced defence and development spending at the same time.
After NFC transfers and interest costs, the Centre has had about Rs3 trillion in net revenue receipts since the last fiscal year.
The Ministry of Finance sees interest payments near Rs8.68 trillion by FY2029; the IMF projects more than Rs10 trillion by FY2031.
The federal fiscal deficit is projected at about Rs7 trillion, or 4.9% of GDP, this year.