Islamabad 12 August: Pakistan is still awaiting the recovery of $304.5 million (over Rs86 billion) from five countries that have defaulted on export credit repayments for decades, according to an audit report.
The report lists Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau as defaulters. The debts date back to export credit extended by Pakistan during the 1980s and 1990s.
Iraq tops the list, owing $231.3 million, followed by Sudan with $46.6 million. Bangladesh owes $21.4 million related to sugar plant and cement projects, while Guinea-Bissau has an outstanding $3.65 million. The report also notes unpaid dues from Sri Lanka, though the exact figure was not detailed in the publicly available documents.
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The Auditor General first flagged these unrecovered amounts in 2006–07, yet successive governments have failed to secure repayment. Officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs say recovery efforts are ongoing through the Foreign Office, with diplomatic channels, joint ministerial committees, and repeated reminder letters used to press for payment.
Despite these measures, the decades-old debts remain unsettled, raising concerns over the effectiveness of Pakistan’s debt recovery mechanisms
