From July to March, Pakistan’s budget deficit has reached 4.33 trillion rupees, fulfilled through borrowing for defense expenditures. The country’s economic position has raised questions from the IMF on the claims of economic stability. The Ministry of Treasury released documents on Tuesday providing an overview of the economic situation from July to March, stating that Pakistan has successfully completed the IMF program. The primary surplus in the first six months indicates that Pakistan’s financial position is strengthening, with the goal of achieving a 0.4 percent primary surplus by the end of the fiscal year. The IMF estimates inflation at 24.8 percent, indicating that high interest rates have been unsuccessful in achieving the target objective. Despite exceeding the IMF benchmarks, the high interest rates have weakened the financial position, with interest payments on domestic loans amounting to 4800 billion rupees in the past nine months. The government has taken loans to fulfill all necessary requirements, including defense expenditures, which were 1.22 trillion rupees, 22 percent higher compared to last year. Overall, federal expenditures totaled 6.74 trillion rupees, exceeding net government income by 1.4 trillion rupees. Despite disappointing numbers, the government has shown some success in revenue collection, with a 95 percent increase in non-tax revenue due to petroleum levies. The central bank’s interest earnings were 972 billion rupees and tax collections by the FBR increased by 30 percent to 6.7 trillion rupees.