PTI government left behind record high budget deficit of Rs 5.5 trillion

 PTI government spend Rs1.1 trillion more than the target of Rs 4.4 trillion during the financial year of 2021-2022

The Pakistan’s budget deficit reached at the record high Rs5.5 trillion in the last fiscal year. The PTI government spent more than the estimated target. PTI was in the government for 09 months of last fiscal year 2021-22.  

The data released by the Ministry of Finance showed that the federal government exceeded the budget deficit target by 37%, which skyrocketed to Rs5.5 trillion in fiscal year 2021-22 that ended on June 30. The target was just under Rs4.4 trillion. The PTI government gave fuel subsidies that drained the government’s resources and also caused disruption to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

After taking office, the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said that the federal budget deficit might increase to Rs5.6 trillion due to the huge pending liabilities, left behind by the previous government.

In terms of the size of economy, the federal budget deficit was equal to 8.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), on the basis of the new size of GDP, which was estimated at Rs67 trillion. The rebasing of the economy took place after every 10 years. But rebasing last year was done after 15 years.  

However, on the basis of old GDP that had also been used to set budget targets in June last year, the federal deficit was equal to 10.2% of GDP. During the last fiscal year, the federal government’s total expenditures shot up to Rs9.2 trillion, exceeding the budget target by Rs730 billion, or 8.6%.

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