New Delhi: After reports of Pakistan battling huge debts emerged, now the World Bank Report has confirmed that it is in the list of top 10 nations with the largest foreign debts.
The report said that Pakistan is among the top 10 countries that possess the largest external debt stocks and became eligible for the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioned ANI.
Citing International Debt Statistics in 2022, released by the World Bank on Monday, The News International reported that there was a wide divergence in the rate at which external debt accumulated in individual DSSI-eligible countries, including the group's largest borrowers.
The combined external debt stock of the 10 largest DSSI-eligible borrowers (Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Zambia) was 509 billion dollars at end-2020, 12 per cent higher than the comparable figure at end-2019 and equivalent to 59 per cent of the external debt obligations of all DSSI-eligible countries combined.
They also accounted for 65 per cent of the end-2020 private non-guaranteed external debt of DSSI-eligible countries. The rate at which debt accumulated in individual countries varied considerably.
The World Bank report said that for Pakistan, the 8 per cent increase in external debt stocks reflected the inflow of budgetary support from official bilateral and multilateral creditors and rollover and new credit lines from commercial banks, The News International reported.
Net inflows from other private creditors rose 15 per cent in 2020 to 14 billion dollars but were highly concentrated and also reflected rollovers and extension of new credits by commercial bank loans to Pakistan in the context of the IMF program.
The FDI inflows to Pakistan fell moderately to 1.9 billion dollars, 5 per cent below the 2019 level, cushioned by continued investment in power generation and the telecom sector from British and Chinese investors.
Pakistan PM chairs meeting with Chinese investors
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that his country needs investment, especially from China, to accelerate industrialisation and provide jobs to its growing population.
Chairing a meeting on facilitating Chinese investors in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being set up under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Khan also directed the authorities concerned to make land and tax incentives available to attract more and more Chinese investors.
Pakistan needs investment to accelerate industrialisation. It is critical to create maximum employment opportunities for our growing population, 65 per cent of which are under the age of 35, Khan said.
Earlier, the News International reported, citing the government data in the month of July reported that Pakistan is on the verge of a debt crisis as public debt also increased by over eight per cent in 11 months of the fiscal year ended in June. The rise in public debt came as a result of increased government borrowing to meet the spending requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic,