Cost of fiscal stability
EDITORIAL: Since 2022, all budgets have been presented under the premiership of Shehbaz Sharif. The report card is mixed. Overall public debt and liabilities reached Rs98 trillion, or 77 percent of GDP. Within this, gross public debt stood at Rs86.7 trillion, up 76 percent over the last five years. However, in terms of GDP, public debt has declined from 73.9 percent in FY22 to 68.3 percent,…
The report highlights the mixed fiscal situation faced by the Pakistani government since 2022, when Shehbaz Sharif became premier. Public debt has risen to 77% of GDP, but has declined as a percentage of GDP due to the government running primary fiscal surpluses over three consecutive years. However, debt servicing has increased to 66% of net federal revenues in FY26, down from 122% in FY23.
The focus should not merely be on reducing debt, but also on reducing borrowing for non-productive purposes and addressing structural weaknesses such as broadening the tax base, improving social spending, reducing regulatory footprint, and enhancing governance.
Brief written by urgent.news from Business Recorder's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
