Interest payments swallow 57pc of tax revenues.

The federal government's efforts to consolidate its budget have been overshadowed by a 46 percent increase in interest payments that ate up Rs 1.3 trillion or 57 percent of tax revenues in first half of the current fiscal year, showed the Ministry of Finance's latest data.

From July through December of fiscal year 2019-20, the overall budget deficit contracted both in absolute terms and in relation to the size of national economy, primarily due to savings of Rs 323 billion by provinces and hefty profit of Rs 426.5 billion by the central bank.

The overall budget deficit - gap...