Pakistan total debt hits Rs98.881 trillion, up 6.46% in a year

Pakistan total debt and liabilities stood at Rs98.881 trillion in September 2026, a 6.46% annual rise, central bank figures show.

The State Bank of Pakistan released the numbers on Friday. A year earlier the stock was Rs92.879 trillion. Borrowing at home and abroad pushed the total up, while the liabilities category shrank.

What lifted Pakistan total debt

Debt on its own reached Rs97.038 trillion, compared with Rs90.107 trillion in September 2025. The gap of Rs6.931 trillion equals 7.69%.

Government borrowing from domestic lenders is the largest block, at more than half of the total. That block reached Rs57.758 trillion, compared with Rs53.427 trillion in September 2025. State-owned enterprises added Rs2.084 trillion of domestic debt, slightly above their earlier Rs2.009 trillion.

Abroad, external debt totalled Rs37.197 trillion. That marks a 7.29% annual climb, or Rs2.526 trillion, and it makes up more than a third of the total. Government external debt accounts for Rs24.900 trillion of it, and non-government external debt another Rs7.747 trillion.

Obligations to the IMF grew to Rs3.010 trillion, a step up from Rs2.542 trillion. Meanwhile, loans between affiliated companies and their direct investors abroad slipped to Rs1.539 trillion, from Rs1.561 trillion.

Liabilities fall while debt servicing jumps

Liabilities went the other direction. Liabilities slid to Rs3.413 trillion, against Rs4.436 trillion twelve months before. Even so, Pakistan total debt owes its rise to borrowing, not to liabilities. External liabilities dropped by nearly a trillion rupees, to Rs2.434 trillion, whereas domestic ones eased to Rs979 billion.

Yet the cost of carrying the debt climbed 33.27% in July to September. Payments on debt and liabilities totalled Rs2.900 trillion, compared with Rs2.176 trillion in the same quarter of FY26. The extra bill came to Rs724 billion.

Principal repayments on external obligations explain most of the increase. They reached Rs1.180 trillion, almost double the Rs634 billion paid a year earlier. Government external repayments went up to Rs653 billion. Repayments by non-government borrowers jumped to Rs467 billion, against only Rs95 billion before. Payments to the IMF stayed flat at Rs60 billion.

Interest costs also rose, by Rs217 billion or 14.70%, to Rs1.693 trillion. Domestic interest accounted for Rs1.388 trillion of that, against Rs1.176 trillion a year earlier. External interest barely changed at Rs305 billion, versus Rs300 billion. Interest on liabilities fell to Rs28 billion from Rs65 billion.

What analysts say about Pakistan total debt

Mohammed Awais Ashraf, director of research at AKD Securities, said the government borrowed over the year to cover its fiscal deficit. In the first quarter, however, a fiscal surplus helped bring debt down.

He welcomed the fall in external liabilities, both local and foreign. In his view, prudent spending and stronger tax revenue growth are improving the debt-to-GDP ratio. He also noted that spending on servicing rose 33% because of higher payments on local and foreign debt.

Quarterly and yearly pictures on domestic debt differ. Compared with September 2025, the stock stands higher. Yet over the first three months of this fiscal year it declined.

For now, Pakistan total debt keeps rising year on year, and servicing costs remain the main pressure point. The next quarterly data will show whether the fiscal surplus can keep the stock in check.