Kathmandu. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the country’s public debt has increased by nearly two trillion rupees. According to the Public Debt Management Office, the public debt has reached Rs 2,858.97 billion as of mid-February.

Public debt increased by Rs 184.93 billion in the first seven months of the fiscal year from Rs 2674.04 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year. The current total debt is 46.81 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), indicating that the size of debt is close to half of the economy.

The share of foreign debt is 52.81 per cent of the total debt and the internal debt is 47.19 per cent. The government has paid Rs 203.65 billion in principal and interest till mid-February. Out of this, Rs 163.52 billion was spent on principal and Rs 40.13 billion on interest.

The domestic debt has reached Rs 1,349.13 billion as of mid-February from Rs 1,268.22 billion at the beginning of the fiscal year. In terms of GDP, the internal debt is equal to 22.09 percent. During the period, the government collected Rs 217.66 billion in internal loans and paid Rs 136.76 billion.

The remaining amount of external debt has reached Rs 1,509.84 billion till mid-February. Such loans stood at Rs 1,405.82 billion as of mid-July last year. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, 26.76 billion foreign loans have been repaid while 37.81 billion new loans have been added. External debt to GDP ratio is 24.72 percent.

In the current fiscal year, the government has collected Rs 255.48 billion against the target of Rs 595 billion, which is 42.89 percent of the annual target. Out of the total loan collection, the share of internal debt was 85.20 percent and external debt was 14.80 percent.

The government had allocated Rs 411.01 billion for the current fiscal year under the heading of principal and interest payment. As of February, Rs 203.65 billion has been spent, which is 49.55 percent of the annual allocation. In terms of GDP, the total debt service expenditure has reached 3.33 percent.

With the size of public debt approaching 47 percent of GDP, there are signs that the pressure on principal and interest payments will increase in the coming days.