The government borrowed against the target of PKR 600 billion by the auction of treasury bills. The government borrowed for a duration of three months by selling three-month treasury bills to commercial banks at an increased rate of return after the central bank hiked the key interest rate by 1.5 percentage points to a eight-year high at 12.25%.
The budget deficit has hit an 11-year high at PKR 1.92 trillion, or 5% of the total size of national economy, for nine months ended March 2019. This happens due to a continued double-digit growth in defence and debt spending, and sinking revenues, according to the Ministry of Finance.
