Pakistan’s total external debt almost doubled over the decade ending in 2025, reaching $135.1 billion, according to the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026. The report put the country’s external debt stock at $135.107 billion at the end of 2025, up from $68.673 billion in 2015 — an increase of about 97 per cent. The stock also rose by nearly 4 per cent during 2025 alone, from $129.92 billion in 2024. Long-term external debt stood at $110.48 billion, including $92.9 billion of public and publicly guaranteed borrowing. The total breaks down into public and publicly guaranteed debt of $107.076 billion, private non-guaranteed debt of $17.58 billion and short-term debt of $10.45 billion. The figures cover the country’s total external debt across all borrowers, not only loans taken directly by the federal government. China remained Pakistan’s largest single creditor, with $22.4 billion outstanding, followed by the World Bank with $19.2 billion and the Asian Development Bank with $16.83 billion. The report put the average maturity of loans from official creditors at 16 years, with a four-year grace period and an average interest rate of 3.6 per cent. The World Bank’s global report said external debt across low- and middle-income countries climbed 5.5 per cent to a record $9.4 trillion in 2025, while debt-service payments reached $1.4 trillion.

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