KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmad on Wednesday said Pakistan’s external debt burden has begun to ease, with the debt-to-GDP ratio falling from 31 percent to 26 percent.
Speaking to the media at the Pakistan Women Entrepreneurship Day 2025 ceremony at SBP head office, he said this is the first meaningful improvement in several years. He added that Pakistan has not added to its external debt stock since 2022, breaking a long trend of steady annual increases.
The Governor SBP noted that previously between 2015 and 2022 the external debt had been rising by an average of USD 6.4 billion every year. “The direction has changed. We’re now seeing stability instead of continuous accumulation,” he said.
He added that the current account deficit will remain contained between zero and one percent of GDP this fiscal year, despite higher imports. He said the improvement reflects better discipline, stronger inflows and more balanced trade flows.
The governor projected that remittances will cross 40 billion dollars this year, compared with 38 billion dollars received last fiscal year. He said the upward trend in workers’ remittances is helping support the external account and easing pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, SBP on Wednesday marked Pakistan Women Entrepreneurship Day 2025 with Governor Jameel Ahmad reaffirming the state bank’s commitment to expanding women’s access to finance and strengthening their role in the country’s economic growth.
He said there is now widespread understanding that no nation can grow when half of its population is excluded from the financial system.
He said that SBP has pursued a deliberate, multi-pronged strategy to expand women’s financial inclusion, and to sustain the progress made so far, we must continue building the ecosystem, where women-led businesses can access finance, markets, and mentorship. He was delivering his keynote address at the Pakistan Women Entrepreneurship Day (PWED) 2025.
During his keynote address, Jameel emphasized the event as a celebration of the creativity, determination, and success of women who are driving economic transformation in Pakistan.
He highlighted the significant progress made in providing financing to women entrepreneurs. He shared that because of our collective efforts, women’s financial inclusion has risen from 4 percent to 52 percent, and we have succeeded in narrowing the gender gap from 47 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in 2025.
More than 17.6 million new women-owned bank accounts have been added since 2021, reflecting active engagement in the financial system.
While sharing the progress on loans to women led business, he said that over 974,000 loans have been disbursed amounting to Rs. 230.3 billion between November 2024 and October 2025.
Governor SBP highlighted that increase in financial inclusion for our female population would not be possible without support from our banking industry.
He acknowledged the ongoing institutional shift within the banks. Over 14,600 women have joined the banking workforce in the last three years, raising the overall ratio of female employees from 13 to 17 percent.
“At the State Bank, we recently hired a batch of young female graduates under our Emerging Women Leaders Initiative. And now we also have a female member on the SBP’s Board” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
