The Finance Division has clarified that the reported Rs. 10.1 trillion in federal state-owned enterprise (SOE) debt represents the consolidated stock of interest-bearing obligations, not fresh borrowing, after a media report compared the figure with narrower State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data.
According to the Finance Division, fresh and additional loans during the reporting period amounted to approximately Rs. 164 billion, while the consolidated SOE debt stock increased from around Rs. 8.8 trillion to Rs. 10.1 trillion.
The division said the comparison was misleading because the two datasets cover different types of obligations. The SBP figure of Rs. 2.954 trillion measures public sector enterprise borrowing and credit from the banking system, while the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) reports a broader measure of federal SOE interest-bearing liabilities for fiscal risk monitoring.
The CMU figure includes Rs. 2.098 trillion in Cash Development Loans, Rs. 2.581 trillion in foreign re-lent loans, Rs. 3.102 trillion in bank and private loans, Rs. 2.181 trillion in accrued markup and rollover costs, and Rs. 135 billion in other interest-bearing obligations, including leases and right-of-use liabilities.
Bank and private loans account for approximately Rs. 3.1 trillion of the consolidated stock, the Finance Division said. The remaining amount primarily comprises government lending, foreign re-lent loans, accumulated markup and rollover costs, and other interest-bearing liabilities.
The division said changes in the overall debt stock reflect not only additional borrowing but also changes in existing government lending, foreign re-lent loans and accumulated financial obligations.
It added that the broader CMU framework provides the government and the Cabinet Committee on State Owned Enterprises with a more comprehensive view of SOE indebtedness and related fiscal risks.
The Finance Division concluded that directly comparing the Rs. 10.1 trillion CMU figure with the narrower SBP banking sector series is not methodologically valid.
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