How much debt does every citizen of Pakistan have? Finance Ministry report released

How much debt does every citizen of Pakistan have? An important revelation has come to light in the annual fiscal policy statement presented by the Finance Ministry in Parliament.

The debt burden on every Pakistani citizen reached Rs 333,000 after an increase of 13 percent during the last fiscal year, while the increasing public debt has emerged as a major challenge for the government.

According to the report, the per capita debt in the fiscal year 2023-24 was Rs 294,098, which increased to Rs 333,041 in the fiscal year 2024-25, thus increasing the debt on every Pakistani by about Rs 39,000 in one year.

This calculation has been made keeping in mind the country’s population of 241.5 million.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the total public debt increased from Rs 71.2 trillion to Rs 80.5 trillion between June 2024 and June 2025, mainly due to higher interest payments and changes in the exchange rate.

The report acknowledges that the public debt situation remained a major challenge in the last fiscal year. Under the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDL), the federal government is required to present a fiscal policy statement to Parliament at the end of the fiscal year.

The report reveals that the federal fiscal deficit reached 6.2 percent of GDP, while according to the law, this limit should not have exceeded 3.5 percent, thus the government incurred a deficit of about Rs 3 trillion more than the legal limit.

According to the report, the total public debt increased from 67.6 percent of GDP to 70.7 percent, during which the government established new departments, expanded the federal cabinet, and purchased new vehicles and furniture.

Total federal expenditure in the fiscal year 2024-25 was budgeted at Rs 18.9 trillion, of which current expenditure was Rs 17.2 trillion. The federal government incurred additional expenditure equal to 2.7 percent of GDP.

The report said that tax collections remained at Rs 11.7 trillion, which was 90.5 percent of the set target of Rs 1.3 trillion, while non-tax revenues remained better than expectations and reached Rs 5.1 trillion.

Development expenditure remained at Rs 1.4 trillion compared to Rs 1.7 trillion, while defense expenditure exceeded the budget and reached Rs 2.2 trillion, interest payments remained at Rs 8.8 trillion.

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