KPK First Province to Pay Off Debt: Muzammil Aslam

Web Desk — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the first province to pay off its debt. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Finance Advisor, Muzammil Aslam, makes a bold claim, stating that the province has transferred 30 billion rupees to the Debt Management Fund.

Muzammil Aslam says that other provinces and the federal government only take loans but do not provide any program to pay them off. In contrast, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has transferred 30 billion rupees into a fund established for paying off debts. He added that the KP government could transfer another 30 to 35 billion rupees into this fund and bring its share of the total debt, which is 725 billion rupees, down to 10%.

He mentioned that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has outpaced the federal and other provincial governments in terms of paying off debt. He also stated that once their government comes to power in the federation, they will reduce the national debt as well.

According to Muzammil Aslam, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has transferred 20 billion rupees into the pension fund and 20 billion rupees into the gratuity fund in the past six months, also earning 3 to 4 billion rupees in profit from these transferred funds.

He pointed out that before the PTI government came into power, it was common to hear that there were insufficient funds in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s treasury for even salaries. Still, now the KP government has enough funds to pay three months’ advance salaries.

He further added that the provincial government is following the vision of PTI founder Imran Khan. Under the leadership of Ali Amin Gandapur, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will eliminate debt and stabilize the economy.

Muzammil Aslam claimed that the federal government borrowed 12.248 trillion rupees just in November, while the total debt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over 77 years is 725 billion rupees. This amount is the same as the loan taken by the Shehbaz Sharif government in the first 20 days of November alone.

The Finance Advisor of KP stated that Pakistan’s total debt has reached 70,400 billion rupees, which was 43,500 billion rupees in April 2022, reflecting an increase of 27,000 billion rupees since then.