World / Pak among top 10 nations with largest external debt stocks: World Bank report

New York: A World Bank report recently named Pakistan among the top 10 countries with the largest external debt stocks and confirmed its eligibility for the DSSI.

The DSSI or Debt Service Suspension Initiative is an initiative spearheaded by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund along with the G20 countries in the aftermath of the unforeseen loses since the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic.

"DSSI borrowers commit to use freed-up resources to increase social, health, or economic spending in response to the crisis," a World Bank webpage reads.

Two South Asian countries - Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the top 10 borrowers as per the report by World Bank. Other countries include Uzbekistan, Kenya, Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Mongolia.

The World Bank's International Debt Statistics illustrated that the combined debt stock of these 10 top was 509 billion dollars at the end of 2020, which formed 59 percent of the debt of all DSSI eligible countries. The figure in 2020, is a 12 percent higher than the figure at the end of 2019.

The 8 percent increase in external debt stocks of Pakistan reflected the inflow of budgetary support from creditors - bilateral and multilateral and new credit lines from commercial banks, The News International reported.

Net inflows from private creditors rose 15 percent whereas the FDI inflows fell down by 5 percent. There were rollovers and extension of credits in view of the IMF program, the Asian News International reported.