Kathmandu. The government’s outstanding public debt has reached Rs 2.729 trillion.

According to the Public Debt Management Office, the total public debt as of mid-November was Rs 1,275.96 billion and Rs 1,453.45 billion respectively. The public debt to GDP ratio of Nepal is 44.69 percent.

Against the target of mobilizing Rs 595 billion public loan in the current fiscal year, Rs 138.75 billion has been received in the first four months of the current fiscal year. The total public loan receipt is 23.29 percent against the annual target.

Of the Rs 138.75 billion loans received till mid-November, Rs 150.88 billion has been repaid. Out of the total paid, Rs 127.61 billion was spent in principal and the remaining Rs 23.27 billion was spent in interest, according to the report.

The amount used to pay the interest of the public debt is included in the current expenditure. Therefore, the amount of Rs 138.75 billion collected during the period will be reduced by Rs 127.61 billion spent on the principal payment. The public debt added Rs 55.36 billion in the last two months compared to Rs 44.22 billion due to the change in the exchange rate of foreign currencies.