Government raises Rs200bn out of Rs1tr bids

The government exceeded its borrowing target in the treasury bills (T-bills) auction held on Wednesday, raising Rs201.8 billion against Rs175bn, but kept cut-off yields largely unchanged. The auction saw bids surpassing Rs1tr, though the amount raised remained within the targeted range. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), a total of Rs1,071bn in bids were submitted, with the government accepting Rs145.86bn in competitive bids and Rs56bn in non-competitive bids. This brought the total funds raised to Rs201.8bn. The SBP’s recent monetary policy statement revealed that it had provided Rs2.4tr to the government, which had helped reduce its reliance on borrowing from commercial banks. In the July-August period of FY26, the government’s net debt retirement to scheduled banks stood at Rs39.9bn, compared to a net borrowing of Rs717.8bn during the same period in FY25. Despite a decline in overall borrowing from banks, financial institutions expect the trend to reverse soon.