Pakistan's fiscal deficit stands at Rs6.52tr in FY23

August 17, 2023 (MLN): Pakistan’s overall fiscal deficit in FY23 fell to 7.7% of GDP (Rs6.52 trillion) against 7.9% of GDP (Rs5.26tr) in FY22, as per data reported by Finance Ministry.

The government plugged this deficit through domestic borrowing of Rs7.2tr, exceeding the fiscal deficit.

This marks the first time since 2013 that the country has been able to cover the fiscal deficit entirely through domestic borrowing. Consequently, observing an outflow (repayment) of Rs679.85 billion in external debt during FY23.

In the same period last year, the government's domestic and external borrowings to aid the budget deficit stood at Rs4.08tr and Rs1.18tr respectively.

In FY23, the overall budget deficit stood at 7.7% of GDP compared to 7.9% of GDP in FY22, with a primary deficit of 0.8% of GDP as against 3.1% of GDP in the same quarter last year.

Government data showed that Punjab, Sindh and KPK recorded a budget surplus in FY23, clocking in at Rs90.1bn, Rs50.4bn and Rs16.64bn respectively. On the other hand, Baluchistan suffered a deficit of Rs2.52bn.

It is pertinent to mention that all four provinces posted a cumulative budget surplus of Rs154.59bn during FY23 compared to a cumulative surplus of Rs350.99bn in FY22, depicting a fall of 55.96% YoY.

Revenues and Expenditures

Since the fiscal deficit is the difference between the expenditures and revenues of the government, during FY23, total revenues and expenditures of the government as a percentage of GDP stood at 11.4% and 19.1% respectively, compared to 12% and 19.9% recorded in the same period last year. while in absolute terms, the total revenues amounted to Rs9.63tr and the expenditures to Rs16.15tr, respectively.

Total revenue jumped by 19.89% YoY during FY23 driven by 15.74% increase in tax revenue worth Rs9.63tr and a 41.76% jump in non-tax revenue worth Rs1.81tr.

Within indirect taxes, increase was witnessed in sales tax and excise duty, up by 2.38% YoY and 15.20% respectively, while customs duty fell by 7.20% YoY.

During FY23, non-tax collection soared by 33.63% YoY with a 4.54x YoY increase in Petroleum Levy. Whereas, SBP Profit and PTA Profit both declined by 21.62% YoY and 18.22% YoY respectively.

On the expense front, government expenditures have soared 25.47% YoY during FY23. Current expenditure rose by 26.57% YoY on the back of higher Domestic Markup payments, up 79.29% YoY due to higher average interest rates.

Similarly, defense expenditure also witnessed an increase of 12.32% YoY

On the other hand, government expenditure on subsidies posted a backdrop of 29.38% YoY.

Development spending posted a jump of 17.83% YoY in FY23 as  PSDP (Federal) rose significantly by 62.83% YoY while PSDP (Provincial) recorded a meager rise of 2% YoY.

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