Islamabad: Pakistan has paid over USD 3.5 billion in interest on loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the last forty years.
The stunning revelation was made during a meeting of the Senate's Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, on Thursday at the Parliament House, where the Ministry of Finance presented details of the loans and repayments made to the IMF so far.
According to The Express Tribune, during the briefing by officials from the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan, it was disclosed that Pakistan has paid over USD 3.60 billion in interest to the IMF. The documents presented in the meeting revealed that the interest paid amounts to over Rs 1,000 billion in Pakistani currency.
It also emerged that over the past 30 years, Pakistan has borrowed approximately USD 29 billion from the IMF and has repaid more than USD 21.72 billion in the same period. In the last four years alone, Pakistan borrowed over USD 6.26 billion from the IMF and repaid USD 4.52 billion. Additionally, in the last four years, Pakistan has paid over USD 1.10 billion in interest to the IMF.