Islamabad, Feb 1 (TIWN) With around a 40 per cent increase in Pakistans public debt and liabilities in 15 months, the Pakistan government has conceded major violations of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act (FRDLA) for massively exceeding debt acquisition limits, a media report said.

In its debt policy statement laid before Parliament, Pakistan''s Ministry of Finance noted that the total debt and liabilities that stood at Rs 29.879 trillion at the end of 2018 fiscal had crossed Rs 41.489 trillion at the end of Septem­ber 2019, showing an increase of Rs 11.6 trillion, or 39 per cent.

At the end of 2019 fiscal, the total debt and liabilities were reported to have increased by about 35 per cent or Rs 10.344 trillion to touch Rs 40.223 trillion, Dawn reported.

The report said that the FRDLA required that the federal government take measures to reduce federal fiscal deficit and maintain total public debt within prudent limits thereof.

As such, it was required to limit the federal fiscal deficit, excluding foreign grants, to 4 per cent of the gross domestic product during the three years, beginning from financial year 2018-19 and maintaining it at a maximum of three and a half per cent of the GDP thereafter.

"The federal fiscal deficit (excluding grants) was recorded at Rs 3,635 billion or 9.4 per cent of the GDP during FY 2018-19, thus, remaining higher than the threshold of four per cent," said the debt policy statement.