{"id":16226,"date":"2025-08-09T18:04:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T18:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16226"},"modified":"2025-08-09T18:04:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T18:04:03","slug":"punjab-govt-clears-rs675b-debt-linked-to-wheat-procurement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=16226","title":{"rendered":"Punjab govt clears Rs675b debt linked to wheat procurement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The Punjab government said on Saturday it had cleared its long-standing bank debt of Rs675 billion after more than three decades, calling it a \u201chistoric step\u201d that will free up resources for public welfare.<\/p>\n<p>According to officials, the debt was largely linked to wheat procurement and subsidy programmes. Its repayment ends daily interest payments of Rs250 million and marks the closure of the province\u2019s chapter on domestic bank borrowing.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Chief Secretary Zahid Zaman and Finance Secretary Mujahid Sherdil were credited with leading the repayment effort, which the government said will strengthen the provincial economy and save billions annually in interest costs.<\/p>\n<p>Read More: 50000 loans given under Punjab&#8217;s &#8216;Apni Chat Apna Ghar&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The final instalment of Rs13.8 billion was paid to the National Bank of Pakistan, while the government rejected all bank requests to roll over the loans. Officials said that without timely repayment, the province would have faced monthly interest costs of Rs500 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the repayment of Rs675 billion, a new example of financial self-reliance has been set,\u201d the provincial government said in a statement. It added that the move had brought \u201chistoric improvement\u201d to Punjab\u2019s finances, with the annual savings on interest now available for development spending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debt repayment will enhance Punjab\u2019s financial stability. The chapter on bank loans is closed \u2014 now resources will be spent on public welfare,\u201d the statement said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Punjab government said on Saturday it had cleared its long-standing bank debt of Rs675 billion after more than three decades, calling it a \u201chistoric step\u201d that will free up resources for public welfare. According to officials, the debt was largely linked to wheat procurement and subsidy programmes. Its repayment ends daily interest payments of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}