Pakistan’s public debt retirement before maturity reached Rs4.722 trillion, or about $17 billion, after the government completed a Rs279 billion Pakistan Investment Bonds buyback, Finance Minister’s Adviser Khurram Schehzad said on Tuesday.
Schehzad said on X that the latest PIB transaction, valued at around $1 billion, was part of what he described as Pakistan’s largest sustained early-debt-retirement programme.
The government retired Rs2.9 trillion before maturity during FY2025-26, up 62% from Rs1.8 trillion in FY2024-25, according to the adviser. Central bank debt accounted for 51% of the FY2025-26 total, while market debt accounted for 49%.
Schehzad said the liability-management programme had reduced refinancing and rollover risks, lowered debt-servicing costs and improved government liquidity and cash-flow management.
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Pakistan’s average debt maturity increased from 2.7 years in FY2023-24 to more than 3.8 years in FY2025-26, he said. The debt-to-GDP ratio declined from 75% in FY2022-23 to an estimated 68.5% in FY2025-26.
The adviser also said the government had reduced its reliance on central bank financing as part of wider fiscal reforms aimed at strengthening public financial management and macroeconomic stability.
He said Pakistan was shifting from conventional borrowing towards proactive balance-sheet management, with greater emphasis on longer-term debt sustainability and lower financing costs.
