IMF Forecasts Govt Debt of 73.2% of GDP for Pakistan in 2020

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected an increase in government gross debt by 0.7 percent–to 73.2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019 against 72.5 percent in 2018 and further rise to 73.6 percent in 2020. The Fund earlier in April 2018 had projected gross government debt for Pakistan at 67.4 percent for 2019 against 67.2 percent in 2018. According to the IMF report “Fiscal Monitor, Managing Public Wealth” net debt would increase by 1.3 percent — to 68.9 percent of GDP in 2019 against 67.6 percent in 2018. Earlier this year the net debt was projected to increase to 62.4 percent of the GDP in 2018 and 63.3 percent for 2019 against 61.6 percent in 2017. According to the report, government revenue is projected to increase by 0.2 percent – to 15.6 percent of the GDP in 2019 against 15.4 percent during the same period of 2018. However, the Fund had earlier projected that the government revenue will reach 15.8 percent of GDP in 2018 and 15.8 percent by 2019 against 15.7 percent during the same period of 2017. The government expenditure is projected to increase to 22.5 percent of GDP in 2019 as compared to 21.8 percent in 2018, and projected to decrease to 22.4 percent by 2020. The government expenditure was earlier projected to decrease to 21.2 percent of GDP in 2018 as compared to 21.3 percent in 2017, but projected to increase to 21.5 percent by 2019. The Fund projected Pakistan budget deficit at 6.9 percent for 2019 against 6.5 percent for 2018. The Fund earlier this year had projected budget deficit at 5.3 percent for 2018 and 5.7 percent for 2019.