PTI govt conducting highest external debt repayment and servicing: Hammad Azhar.

ISLAMABAD -- Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar on Saturday underscored that the PTI government paid $10.4 billion on account of debt servicing of external public loans including principal payment of $8.5 billion and $1.9 billion in interest payments.

The minister was responding to the reportage of the Annual Report on Foreign Economic Assistant (FEA) for FY19-20 which highlighted Pakistan's increased reliance on foreign commercial loans.

The country recorded total external loan inflows worth $10.7 billion in the year ended June 30, 2020. Additionally, the government raised $3.4 billion through foreign commercial loans to meet external debt obligations and support the balance of payments.

"The PTI government is conducting the highest external debt repayment and servicing ever done by any government," he wrote on Twitter.

Despite this high debt retirement, pace of external debt rise is slower than during the last years of PML-N government. And foreign exchange reserves are also rising.

The report shows 74% of the total disbursement was for 'financing and budgetary support' while 19% was for 'project financing' and the remaining 7% for 'commodity financing', mainly...