According to the main features of the Economic Survey of Pakistan, there was a three percent increase in the external debts of the country, reported 24NewsHD TV Channel Wednesday.

The federal government will launch the pre-budget document, Economic Survey of Pakistan 2020-21 on Thursday with a higher GDP growth rate of 3.94 percent and positive performance of almost all the macroeconomic indicators during the year. The Survey is scheduled to be shared with media at a press conference here during which an overview of the economic progress made in recent years in Pakistan would also be provided, official sources said.

According to the sources, the external debt had reached $116.30 billion in March 2021 as compared to $109.92 billion in March 2020. The internal debts and payables have reached Rs25552 billion while they were Rs24478 billion in March 2020.

The current account deficit from July 2020 to April 2021 remained $770m in surplus.

The foreign remittances from July 2020 to April 2021 saw a 29 percent increase as compared to the same period in the previous fiscal year. The foreign remittances remained $24.24 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year while they were $18.79billion in the 10 months of the previous fiscal year. Pakistan received $6.39 billion in remittances from Saudi Arabia during the said period.

According to the document, during the 11 months of the current fiscal year, the exports reached $22.60 billion while they were $19.80 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The imports during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year remained $49.8 billion while the figure for the corresponding time in the last year for imports was $40.8 billion.

The trade deficit during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year was increased by 30 percent as it was recorded at $27.28 billion while it was $21.7 billion during the same period for the last fiscal year.

The foreign investment has decreased by 33 percent during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year. During this period, the foreign investment was $1.5 billion as compared to $2.30 billion during the same period for the last fiscal year.

During the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, the foreign reserves increased by $3.91 billion to reach $23.29 billion. During this period, the foreign reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan remained at $16.13 billion. However, the foreign reserves for banks during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year say a $700 million decrease as they stand at $7.16 billion.

Unlike the past years, most of the targets set for the outgoing fiscal year 2020-21 seemed to be achieved or even surpassed the previous years’ targets, as the macroeconomic indicators have shown extraordinary performance despite some restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

According to the Planning Commission’s estimations made in the 103rd meeting of the National Accounts Committee (NAC), the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted 3.94 percent growth during the outgoing fiscal year that is much higher than the government’s original target of 2.1 percent and, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s projection of only 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has termed this higher growth as extremely gratifying and proof of the success of Prime Minister Imran Khan economic policies.

The target for tax revenue collection of Rs 4.7 trillion also looks to be achieved as the revenues reached Rs4.167 trillion during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) needs about Rs500 billion in the last month of the outgoing fiscal year.