ISLAMABAD — Pakistan may be diligently repaying its obligations to global lenders and partner countries, but an audit report has laid bare a lingering financial sore point: five nations together owe Pakistan more than $304.5 million debts that have been sitting unpaid for over forty years.
The defaulters, identified in the report, are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau. The amounts trace back to the 1980s and 1990s, when Pakistan extended export credit facilities to these countries to finance purchases of goods and industrial equipment. Despite repeated reminders and diplomatic nudges, the money has yet to return to Islamabad’s coffers.
Converted into local currency, the arrears total more than Rs86 billion. Iraq is by far the largest debtor, with $231.3 million outstanding. Sudan follows with $46.6 million, while Bangladesh owes $21.4 million much of it tied to the export of sugar mill machinery and cement. Guinea-Bissau’s unpaid balance is $3.65 million, and Sri Lanka also appears on the list, though the report does not specify the exact figure for Colombo’s debt.
The problem is hardly new. The Auditor General of Pakistan first flagged these unpaid credits during the 2006–07 audit cycle, but progress toward recovery has been negligible. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials say efforts are continuing through diplomatic channels, including joint ministerial meetings, official reminder letters, and formal demand notices sent to the concerned governments.
The audit has now urged the government to escalate the matter to higher political and diplomatic levels to push for repayment. It also calls for a more robust follow-up mechanism to prevent similar decades-long delays in the future.
The revelation comes at a time when Pakistan is under mounting fiscal pressure. For a country navigating a tight financial landscape, reclaiming over $300 million in long-overdue debts could provide some much-needed breathing room.
