Rising interest payments, uplift spending strained Pakistan's fiscal position in FY27's 1st quarter: ministry

ISLAMABAD: Despite a massive 90 per cent cut in subsidies and higher-than-targeted revenue collection, Pakistan’s fiscal and current account buffers weakened in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY27) owing to an almost 37pc increase in interest payments coupled with greater development spending. The “overall fiscal surplus narrowed to 0.8pc of GDP (Rs1.198 trillion), compared with 1.7pc of GDP (Rs2.124tr)” in the corresponding period (July-September) of FY26, said the Ministry of Finance in its Monthly Economic Update & Outlook report issued on Thursday. “Similarly, the primary…