Kathmandu, October 31: The government added Rs 50.6 billion in public debt during the first three months of the current fiscal year 2082/83.

According to the Public Debt Management Office, as of the end of Ashoj, the total public debt has reached Rs 2.724 trillion, up from Rs 2.674 trillion at the end of the previous fiscal year in Asar.

Nepal’s total public debt now stands at 44.61% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Of this, external debt accounts for 53.04% (Rs 1.446 trillion) and domestic debt makes up 46.91% (Rs 1.278 trillion).

For the current fiscal year, the government had set a target to raise Rs 595 billion in total public debt. However, by the end of Ashoj, it had raised only Rs 100.84 billion, which is just 16.93% of the annual target.

Under this, Rs 90 billion has been raised domestically, while only Rs 10.84 billion has been obtained from external sources. The government plans to raise Rs 362 billion in domestic debt and Rs 233 billion in external debt this fiscal year.

Debt servicing — payment of principal and interest — has also seen a significant outflow. By the end of Ashoj, Rs 109.89 billion had been spent on debt repayment.

This includes Rs 80.15 billion in principal and Rs 16.26 billion in interest payments on domestic debt, as well as Rs 10.35 billion in principal and Rs 3.12 billion in interest payments on external debt. The government has allocated Rs 411.01 billion for total debt servicing for this fiscal year.

On a monthly basis, debt raised amounted to Rs 44.66 billion in Shrawan, Rs 36.13 billion in Bhadra, and Rs 20.04 billion in Ashoj.

The first-quarter figures also show that revenue is insufficient to cover regular (current) expenditure. By the end of Ashoj, total revenue collection stood at Rs 249 billion, while recurrent expenditure reached Rs 256.8 billion.

People’s News Monitoring Service.