ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) today said that the country would need 10.8 billion dollars to repay foreign debt in the ongoing fiscal year.

Government is pinning hopes on foreign direct investment and privatization to repay loans as it can only spare 6.5 billion dollars to discharge international obligations, added President PEW Dr. Murtaza Mughal.

Mughal notified that the government had also borrowed 3 trillion rupees from domestic sources during the last fiscal year pushing up debt from14 trillion to17 trillion rupees.

The incumbent government’s top officials have been obtaining 300 percent more funds from local lenders than what the PPP-led government used to borrow from domestic sources, Mughal stated.

Dr. Mughal reported that government income was 275 billion rupees less than the projected figures while its expenditure exceeded by 112 billion rupees during the same period contrary to the pre-poll promises of PML-N. Furthermore, the government has failed to introduce policies that can boost reserves without loans.