K-P’s debt pile to balloon to Rs1,000b

Accords already signed with international firms for provision of Rs606b more loans

PESHAWAR:

The amount of loans taken during the 10-year rule of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will exceed Rs1,000 billion during the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24 due to the agreements with international organisations to obtain more loans and those already taken from them.

By December 2022, the provincial government had received loans of worth more than Rs450 billion and agreements had been made with the international organisations to obtain more loans of Rs606 billion.

According to the records of K-P government, till December 2022, the provincial government received loans worth more than Rs454 billion, in which the largest loan had been obtained from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which was more than Rs230 billion; while Rs181 billion was taken from the International Development Association, Rs22 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Rs18 billion from the French Development Agency (FDA), Rs1 billion from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and Rs400 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), Rs360 million frm Germany and Rs210 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

According to the records, agreements have been signed for obtaining loans worth Rs606 billion from financial and development institutions for various projects, which would increase the total debt burden of the province to Rs1,002 billion at the end of the current financial year.

Among the loans that the provincial government received so far, the largest loan of more than Rs135 billion had been taken for the transport department, Peshawar BRT's loan reached Rs109.50 billion, including Rs76.99 billion from the ADB and Rs32.50 billion from the FDA.

A total loan of Rs93.74 billion had already been obtained for BRT Peshawar, in which Rs75.84 billion had been received from the ADB and Rs16.75 billion from the FDA.

According to the break-up, Rs60.87 billion loan was obtained for various economic development projects, Rs10.37 billion for education, Rs29.88 billion for health, Rs27 billion for industry, Rs19 billion for irrigation, Rs36.61 billion for energy and power, Rs3.51 billion for environment, Rs20.50 billion for regional development, Rs4 billion for social welfare, more than Rs6 billion for urban and rural development, Rs5.43 billion for tourism, Rs98 billion for drainage water, Rs14.38 billion for agriculture, Rs13.60 billion for finance and Rs120 million for forests during the PTI tenure in K-P.

The previous government made agreements with the ADB, FDA, IDA, IBRD, AIIB and IFAD for additional loans worth Rs606 billion.

An amount of Rs304 billion would be taken from the IDA, Rs159 billion from the ADB, Rs12 billion from the FDA, Rs37 billion from the IBRD, Rs80 billion from the AIIB and Rs14 billion from the IFAD.

 

Among the above-mentioned sectors and projects, the ADB will provide Rs67.60 billion for the development projects in six cities of K-P, Rs11.20 billion for Pehur High Level Canal, Rs88 billion for Peshawar BRT, Rs23.72 billion for access to energy, Rs5.39 billion for the maintenance of provincial highways, Rs6.74 billion for the two-lane Mardan, Swabi highways, and Rs310 million for the maintenance and development of cities.

The FDA will provide Rs12.18 billion for Peshawar BRT while the IDA will give Rs55.70 billion for the K-P Rural Support Project, Rs9.44 billion for the National Health Support Project, Rs8.71 billion to increase the sources of provincial government’s income and for tourism projects in K-P, Rs7.58 billion for integrated development of tourism projects, Rs20.86 billion for K-P irrigated agriculture improvement, Rs45.13 billion for better development, Rs85.43 billion for Khyber Pass Economic Corridor, Rs46.20 billion for energy projects and Rs24.95 billion for K-P Human Capital Investment Project.

The International Bank for Settlement and Development will give Rs36.98 billion for the energy project while the AIIB will provide Rs33.32 billion for development projects in six cities and Rs46.50 billion for the Balakot Hydropower Development Project.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2023.