Finance division says Rs10.1 trillion SOE debt doe...

Summary

•   ISLAMABAD:  The Finance Division has clarified that the reported Rs10.1 trillion debt of federal state owned enterprises does not mean that these enterprises borrowed Rs1.3 trillion in fresh loans during the reporting period.
• Finance Division Clarification The ministry said State Bank data puts public sector enterprise bank debt at Rs2.954 trillion, while the Central Monitoring Unit reported combined obligations of federal state owned enterprises at around Rs10.1 trillion.
• Finance Division Clarification The ministry said the Rs10.1 trillion figure should instead be understood as the Central Monitoring Unit’s consolidated measure of interest bearing obligations of federal state owned enterprises.

AI Generated Summary

ISLAMABAD:  The Finance Division has clarified that the reported Rs10.1 trillion debt of federal state owned enterprises does not mean that these enterprises borrowed Rs1.3 trillion in fresh loans during the reporting period. The ministry said the Rs10.1 trillion figure is a broader measure of total interest bearing obligations and should not be directly compared with the narrower bank debt figure reported by the State Bank of Pakistan.

The clarification was issued in response to a media report titled “SOEs’ debt soars to Rs10.1 trillion”. The Finance Division said the report compared figures prepared for different purposes and with different coverage, which could give the impression that the full increase in the debt stock represented new borrowing by state owned enterprises. Finance Division Clarification

According to the Finance Division, the State Bank data mainly covers borrowing and credit taken by public sector enterprises from the banking system. The Central Monitoring Unit of the Finance Division uses a much broader measure that records the consolidated stock of interest bearing obligations of federal state owned enterprises for monitoring financial risks faced by the government. Finance Division Clarification