Pakistan’s external debt exceeds $135 billion, the World Bank

Summary: According to the World Bank’s International Debt Statistics 2026 report, Pakistan’s total external debt increased from $68.67 billion in 2015 to $135.1 billion in 2025. With the increase in debt, the importance of financial assistance and debt repayments from China, international financial institutions and other international lenders has also increased. The debt owed to the Asian Development Bank is $16.83 billion.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s total external debt has almost doubled over the past decade and reached $135.1 billion at the end of 2025, which illustrates the magnitude of external financial obligations on the country’s economy.

According to the World Bank’s latest International Debt Statistics 2026 report, Pakistan’s external debt was $68.67 billion in 2015, which increased to $135.107 billion in 2025. Thus, the external debt increased by about $66.4 billion over 10 years.

The report also released details of different types of debt. Pakistan’s external debt and related financial obligations under official and government guarantees are $107.08 billion. Of this, private sector unsecured long-term debt was recorded at $17.58 billion, while short-term external debt was recorded at $10.45 billion.

Multilateral financial institutions have a significant share among creditors. According to World Bank data, Pakistan owes $16.83 billion to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), while the volume of World Bank Group loans is also more than $22 billion.

China is Pakistan’s largest single bilateral creditor. According to the report, China extended the maturity of Pakistan’s $2 billion debt in 2025, which helped ease the pressure of immediate repayments.

At the same time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released new disbursements of $2.3 billion to Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) programs.

With the increase in external debt, its repayment period, interest rate and available foreign exchange have also become important economic factors. According to World Bank data, the average maturity of loans from official lenders is longer than that of private loans, while interest rates on private loans are also relatively high.

For economists, it is important to assess the overall volume of debt, its utilisation, repayment capacity and foreign exchange earned from exports. For Pakistan, effective management of external debt, increasing exports, and promoting foreign investment will be key factors in reducing fiscal pressures in the future.