Islamabad, June 10 : Loans worth Rs 59.945 billion were written off during President Pervez Musharraf’s rule spanning eight years, between 1999 and 2007, the country’s parliament was informed yesterday.

Pakistan Finance and Revenue Minister Syed Naveed Qamar disclosed this in the National Assembly in response to a question.

The minister said that these loans were written off under different circulars of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Of these loans, Rs 46.877 billion were in excess of Rs 0.5 million, while the remaining Rs 13.967 billion were in excess of Rs 0.5 billion, he added.

“If any member thinks that the write-off was unjustified in any particular case, that case can be reconsidered by the government,” the Daily Times quoted him as saying.

The government introduces different schemes under certain circumstances to give relief to loan-takers but that could not become practice, he responded to questioning on the problems poor people encountered when they could not pay back the small amounts they borrowed. (ANI)