Kathmandu. Nepal’s public debt has crossed Rs 28 trillion. The total public debt increased to Rs 2806.39 billion by mid-January from Rs 2674.04 billion at the beginning of the current fiscal year 2082/83. Currently, the total government debt is equivalent to 45.95 per cent of the GDP.

According to the Public Debt Management Office, foreign loans accounted for 53 per cent of the total public debt of Rs 1,487.26 billion while internal debt accounted for 47 per cent of the total Rs 1,319.13 billion in the current fiscal year. On the basis of GDP, the ratio of internal debt is 21.60 percent and external debt ratio is 24.35 percent.

The government has set a target to raise public debt worth Rs 595 billion for the current fiscal year. A total of Rs 214.55 billion has been received in the half-yearly review period. This is 36.02 percent of the annual target.

In the last six months, the share of internal debt was 82.81 per cent while the share of external debt was 17.19 per cent. The government has already collected Rs 177.66 billion in internal borrowing till mid-January against the target of Rs 362 billion for the current fiscal year. Similarly, the government has so far collected only Rs 36.89 billion against the government’s target of collecting Rs 233.66 billion in external loans.

A large amount of money has also been spent on the payment of the principal and interest of the public debt in the last six months. The government had allocated Rs 411.01 billion for the current fiscal year to pay the principal and interest on public loans, but Rs 187.12 billion has been paid till mid-January last year. Out of this, Rs 155.13 billion has been spent to pay the principal and interest of domestic loans and Rs 31.99 billion to repay the external loans.

Similarly, Rs 152.89 billion was spent on principal payment of internal and external loans and Rs 34.23 billion in interest payments in the last six months, according to the office. On the basis of GDP, the total credit service expenditure till mid-January is 3.06 percent.