Budget deficit: Govt to borrow Rs5,000 billion by selling T-bills, investment bonds

To meet the budget deficit in the last quarter of the current fiscal year 2023-24, the federal government decided to borrow about Rs5,000 billion from the banks by auctioning the T-bills and Investment Bonds.

The 24News DH TV channel reported on Monday that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released the schedule for the auction of T-bills and investment bonds from April 24 to June 24.

According to the State Bank, Pakistan Investment Bonds worth Rs2,490 billion will be sold in three months while the government will borrow a loan of Rs2,475 billion from the auction of T-bills during this period.

According to financial experts, the government will cover the budget deficit by selling T-bills and investment bonds worth Rs 4,965 billion to commercial banks from April 24 to June 24.

The experts said Pakistan's domestic debt is continuously increasing and in the first eight months of this financial year, debt has increased by 6.51 per cent to Rs64,805 billion.

The experts also said that compared to February 2023, Pakistan's debt increased by 19 per cent in February 2024, which has increased from Rs54,438 billion in February 2023 to Rs64,806 billion in February 2024.

According to experts, in the eight months of the current financial year, the internal debt of the government has increased by 10 per cent to Rs42,671 billion and the external debt has increased by 9 per cent to Rs22,134 billion.

Reporter: Ashraf Khan