Public debt (also known as Government debt) is the debt owed by federal government. Pakistani government borrows by issuing securities, bonds, and from financial institutions such as Asian Bank, World Bank and IMF. Pakistan’s public debt has two main components:

• Domestic debt which is incurred principally to finance fiscal deficit, and
• External debt which is raised primarily to finance development expenditure.

Pakistan’s Debt-to-GDP ratio was increased from 60.2% in 2013 to 61.4% in 2017. Find some explanation of Pakistan’s debt by clicking here.

Recent History of Pakistan’s Public debt (Rs. in billion)

Year	Domestic Debt	External Debt	Public Debt
2011	6,017	4,750	10,767
2012	7,638	5,057	12,695
2013	9,522	4,797	14,318
2014	10,920	5,071	15,991
2015	12,199	5,182	17,381
2016	13,627	6,051	19,678
2017	14,855	6,552	21,407
2018	15,437	7,382	22,820 (Dec 2017)

Figure 1. Trend in Domestic and External Debt

Public Debt to GDP Ratio
An important measure regarding public debt is Public debt to GDP ratio, that is how much a country owed with respect to its GDP.

Recent History of Public Debt to GDP Ratio

Year	Net Debt-GDP Ratio	Gross Debt-GDP Ratio
2011	54.3%	58.9%
2012	59.3%	63.3%
2013	60.2 %	64.0%
2014	58.1%	63.5%
2015	58.3%	63.3%
2016	61.3%	67.7%
2017 (Dec 2017)	61.4%	67.0%

Figure 2. Public Debt to GDP Ratio

The table below shows Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio in comparison with some other countries.

Country	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
United States	81.5	80.9	80.5	81.4	82.4
United Kingdom	77.7	79.6	80.4	80.7	80.4
Japan	117.3	118.9	118.3	119.7	119.9
India	68.5	68.5	69.5	69.5	67.7
Srilanka	70.8	70.7	76.0	77.3	79.5
Egypt	73.7	77.1	78.8	88.1	93.6
Pakistan	60.2	58.1	58.3	61.3	61.4

Find some explanation of Pakistan’s debt by clicking here.