The government spent Rs 67.70 billion in repayment of interest and payment against the public debt in the first three months of the current fiscal year.
According to the statistics maintained by the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), the amount paid in debt financing was almost three times the government expenditure on development projects. As of Sunday, in almost three and a half months of the current fiscal year, the government mobilized Rs 25.78 billion in capital expenditure.
Out of the total amount paid in debt repayment, the government settled domestic loans of over Rs 56 billion. This included Rs 42.84 billion in principal repayment and Rs 13.71 billion in interest.
Likewise, the government settled external loans worth Rs 11.15 billion, including principal amount of Rs 8.70 billion and interest dues of Rs 2.44 billion.
According to the PDMO, Nepal took additional loans of Rs 106.78 billion during mid-July and mid-October of the fiscal year 2023/24. Of the amount, Rs 97.31 billion was collected from the domestic areas and Rs 9.37 billion was collected from the external sector.
With the added loans during the review period, the country’s public debt has reached Rs 2.354 trillion. Of late, the government has been depending excessively on borrowings to meet its financial liabilities.
In the review period, the government collected revenue worth Rs 248.28 billion, while the total expenses crossed Rs 303.65 billion. It resulted in the budget deficit of Rs 55.67 billion.
