PTI led in IMF interest payments, PPP accumulated most debt: report

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs has released significant data revealing which political party's government in Pakistan borrowed the most from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and which repaid the most loans and interest.

In a briefing to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Saturday, officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs disclosed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) borrowed over $7.72 billion from the IMF, ranking it at the top of the list of borrowing governments.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ranked second, having borrowed a total of $6.48 billion, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came third, taking loans amounting to $6 billion, just $480 million less than the PML-N.

In terms of repayments, the PML-N government returned the most, with over $5.92 billion paid back to the IMF, putting it in the first position. The PTI government, however, topped the list for the most interest paid, having paid $791 million in a single term.

Officials informed the Standing Committee that during its tenure from 2008 to 2013, the PPP government borrowed over 5.23 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the IMF, which amounts to more than $7.72 billion in US currency. Consequently, the PPP is the leading party in terms of borrowing.

The statistics presented to the Standing Committee showed that the PPP government repaid over $3 billion of the IMF loan and paid more than $484 million in interest.

Similarly, during its tenure from 2013 to 2018, the PML-N government borrowed 4.39 billion SDRs, translating to more than $6.48 billion. Over this five-year period, they repaid more than 4 billion SDRs, amounting to over $5.92 billion. The PML-N paid more than $317 million in interest during these five years.

The PTI government, from 2018 to 2022, borrowed over 4.05 billion SDRs, which translates to approximately $6 billion in loans. During this time, the PTI repaid 2.72 billion SDRs, equivalent to $4.02 billion in U.S. currency. From 2018 to 2022, PTI topped the list of interest payments to the IMF, having paid $791 million.