Pakistan’s foreign debt ratio shoots up amid ongoing economic crisis: Report
Islamabad, (PTI): The ratio of foreign debt of cash-strapped Pakistan has shot up from 36.9 per cent in FY22 to 38.3 per cent in FY23, according to a media report on Friday.
The Ministry of Finance’s Annual Debt Review and Public Debt Bulletin FY2023 comes amid unchecked domestic inflation as the cash-strapped Pakistan’s economy has been in a free-fall mode for the last several years.
Terming it as “an alarming development”, Geo News said, the FY2023 Bulletin shows that “the total public debt peaked at Rs 62.88 trillion till the end of June 2023 against Rs 49.2 trillion, indicating that the total public debt increased by Rs 13.64 trillion during the last fiscal year 2022-23 in the tenure of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government.” After giving details of the total outstanding guarantees to public sector enterprises, those issued to the oil and gas sector and the guarantees issued against commodity operations, the report said, the ratio of domestic debt to total public debt in percentage has gone down from 63.1 per cent in FY22 to 61.7 per cent in FY23, but at the same time, the ratio of foreign debt has gone up from 36.9 per cent to 38.3 per cent, showing an increase in the ratio of foreign loans by 1.4 per cent.
“The incidence of foreign loans going up clearly indicates that the pace of accumulation of foreign debt has outpaced domestic debt mainly because of massive depreciation on account of the exchange rate,” the GeoTV report said.
“Despite the net reduction in the stock of external debt (in USD) during FY23, the share of external debt in total public debt increased from 37 per cent at the end of June 2022 to 38 per cent at the end of June 2023,” it added.
Earlier, after transferring USD 1.2 billion to the cash-strapped country in July, as part of the USD 3 billion bailout programme for nine months to support the government’s efforts to stabilise the country's ailing economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is set to send its delegation to Pakistan in the last week of October to review the cash-strapped country’s economic performance in the first three months of the current fiscal year, a media report had said on October 3.
The report added that once the economic review is successfully completed, Pakistan will receive the next instalment of USD 700 million from the IMF after its board's approval.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
