Pakistan’s external debt pile nearly doubles in a decade

Pakistan’s external debt reached $135.1bn by the close of 2025, up 4% from a year earlier and almost twice the $68.7bn reported for 2015, Mettis Global said, citing the World Bank Group’s International Debt Report 2026. Public and publicly guaranteed obligations accounted for $107.1bn, while private non-guaranteed and short-term debt stood at $17.6bn and $10.5bn, respectively.

Multilateral lenders held $56.8bn of public and publicly guaranteed debt, including $19.2bn owed to World Bank-IDA and $16.8bn to the Asian Development Bank. China was the largest bilateral creditor, with $22.4bn; the report also put external debt at 4.2 times exports and 34% of gross national income, while debt service equalled 33% of exports.

Terms on new 2025 lending varied by creditor type: official financing averaged 16 years to maturity, a four-year grace period and 3.6% interest, compared with three years, one year and 8.6% for private funds. The scale and servicing burden of external liabilities are relevant to investors assessing Pakistan’s broader economic and financing conditions.