KARACHI: The process of government borrowings through the Central Bank surging ahead has mounted to the highest ever at Rs484 billion.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the government borrowings during July 2007 to April 26, 2008 soared by Rs484 billion, which was all-time high as compared to the amounts borrowed from the Central Bank during any fiscal year that saw the volume of government borrowings from the Central Bank jacked up to Rs829 billion and caused banking system assets’ value galloping by 20.7 percent. On the other hand, the government has cut down the borrowed amount from scheduled banks by Rs150 billion. Private sector during the period under review took new loans of Rs371 billion, while the foreign assets diminished by Rs296 billion.