Public debt reaches over 2536 billion rupees

January 19, Kathmandu: The public debt till mid-January of the current fiscal year has exceeded Rs 2,536 billion. According to the Public Debt Management Office, Nepal’s total public debt has exceeded 44 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In the past six months, Rs 102 billion has been added to the public debt. At the beginning of the current fiscal year that commenced on July 16, the size of public debt was Rs 2434 billion 90 million and it rose by Rs 102 billion 30 million to reach Rs 2536 billion 130 million by January 15, the Office said in its report.

This constitutes 44.46 per cent of the GDP. The contribution of foreign debt to the total public debt is 51.31 per cent amounting to Rs 1301 billion 410 million while the ratio of external debt to the GDP is 22.81 per cent.

As the Office said, of the total public debt, the internal debt liability amounts to 48.68 per cent or Rs 1234 billion 714 million while on the basis of the GDP, this is 21.64 per cent and the external debt makes up 22.81 per cent.

The government had the target of raising public debt of Rs 547 billion in the current fiscal year (2082-82 BS) and it has raised Rs 240 billion 80 million or 43.89 per cent of the annual target by mid-January or the first half-yearly of the current fiscal. The government had the target of raising Rs 330 billion as the internal debt in the current fiscal year and it has raised Rs 181 billion 50 million or 54.86 per cent.

Similarly, the government has the target of mobilizing Rs 217 billion in external loans and until January 15, it raised Rs 59 billion 30 million or 27.20 million. The government had allocated Rs 402 billion 850 million budget for reimbursement of the principal and interest of the public debt in the current fiscal year.

Principal and interest worth Rs 182 billion 400 million has been paid by mid-January, the Office stated in its report. The expenditure made for paying the principal and interest until January 15 is 3.20 percent of the total GDP.