Bank lending to private sector turns positive for first time this fiscal year

The bank lending to the private sector turned positive for the first time during this fiscal year, reflecting improvement in the economic activities. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday reported that the private sector borrowed Rs98.73 billion during the week ending Dec 22, 2023. This has pushed the total bank lending to the private sector to Rs9.22 trillion, taking the net borrowing into the positive territory. The total borrowing figure stood at Rs9.17tr by the end of the previous fiscal year and had remained below that level until last week. This shows that the total net borrowing during this fiscal year stood at Rs57.8bn as of Dec 22. However, it was still way below than Rs267.2bn net borrowing in the comparable period a year ago.