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BY OUR REPORTER

Although former Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, during his address to the House of Representatives on Sunday claimed that the economy was free from crisis, the situation looks otherwise after the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) made public its latest data.

According to its data, Nepal’s public debt has reached Rs. 2.434 trillion as of mid-July, which is 42.65 per cent of Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP). Of the total debt, Rs. 1.180 trillion is domestic debt and Rs. 1.253 trillion is foreign debt.

Considering the high rate of public debt, the national economy looks in a worse situation. The increasing public debt could lead the country on the path of Sri Lanka if immediate steps are not taken to correct this.

In the fiscal year 2023/24 alone, the government raised Rs. 358 in public debt with Rs. 234 billion as domestic debt and Rs. 123 billion as foreign debt. Meanwhile, the government repaid only Rs. 223.34 billion of the lonas—Rs. 182 billion domestic loans and Rs. 40.72 billion foreign loans.

According to the data, Nepal’s outstanding public debt increased to Rs.2.434 trillion in the fiscal year 2023/24 from Rs. 2.299 trillion in the fiscal year 2022/23. It means, the government raised Rs. 134 billion in debt in 2023/24.

In the last fiscal year, the government had set a target to mobilise Rs. 452 billion in public debt, but it could mobilise only Rs. 358 billion which is 79 per cent of the target. Of that, the government managed to collect over 97 per cent of the targeted domestic debt and 58.1 per cent of the external debt. Likewise, the government paid Rs. 82 billion in interest of the public debt in last fiscal year while repaying Rs. 223.34 billion in loans.