Domestic, external debt stood at Rs75.3tr in Feb 2025, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry informed the National Assembly that during the last three months, the domestic and external debt stood at Rs75.3 trillion in February 2025.

In December 2024, the total debt including domestic and external debt stood at Rs74 trillion including a domestic debt of Rs49 trillion and Rs24 trillion worth of external debt. During January 2025, the total debt was Rs74.4 trillion including Rs52.2 trillion of domestic debt and Rs24.2 trillion of external debt, while in February, the total debt amounted to Rs75.3 trillion including Rs21 trillion domestic debt and Rs24.3 trillion of external debt.

In a written reply, the Finance Ministry said the government’s borrowing needs are mostly determined by the amount of the fiscal deficit, as public debt is primarily obtained for financing of the fiscal deficit. Historically, the major factor contributing towards the fiscal deficit has been the interest expense. Due to the government’s fiscal consolidation and economic stabilization efforts, it is expected that interest expense for the whole FY-25 should be well within the budgeted amount, which is expected to keep the deficit on the lower side. While the need for obtaining more loans will be there, the growth in public debt will be kept under manageable levels.

In another written reply to a question, the Federal Board of Revenue presented the details of registered taxpayers and businesspersons in the National Assembly. The FBR said that the number of registered taxpayers, companies and businesspersons has reached 12.5 million, and the number of registered business taxpayers increased by 5.3 million during the last three years. Whereas 8.2 million businesspersons and companies were in Punjab, 2.876 million in Sindh, 818,872 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 467,562 in Islamabad, and 221,479 in Balochistan are registered with the FBR. During the last three years, Rs820 billion was collected from government and non-government salaried taxpayers in tax.

During the financial year 2023-24, Rs368 billion in tax was collected from government and private salaried taxpayers and out of it, Rs88 billion was from government employees and Rs280 billion from private salaried individuals. In the case of 2022-23, Rs264 billion was collected in tax from government and private salaried taxpayers and out of it, Rs55 billion was from government employees and Rs209 billion from private salaried individuals. Earlier in 2021-22, Rs188 billion in tax was collected from government and private salaried taxpayers and out of it Rs43 billion was from government employees and Rs145 billion from private salaried individuals. During the last three years, the number of government taxpayers increased by 194,000 while the number of private sector taxpayers increased by 5.5 million, the FBR informed the NA.