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ISLAMABAD: Despite claims of austerity measures, Pakistan’s current expenditure, excluding interest payments, surged by almost 19 per cent over nine months of the current fiscal year (CFY), while national savings and energy consumption fell.
“Non-interest current expenditures grew by 18.8pc, mainly due to higher spending on defence and grants, as well as higher provincial current expenditures,” reported the Planning Commission (PC) to the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC), a federal and provincial forum.
It said the total expenditure stood at Rs15.656 trillion during July-March FY26, reflecting a decline of 4.2pc over the same period of last year. It said the overall current expenditures declined by 2.2pc, whereas development expenditure increased by 26.8pc. Of this, servicing of domestic debt reduced by 25.9pc, whereas servicing of foreign debt increased by 0.6pc.
The decline in interest payments helped contain the fiscal deficit. The PC said the country’s overall fiscal performance showed considerable improvement up to the third quarter of 2025-26.
