Nepal’s per capita debt reaches Rs 68,907, an increase of over Rs 5,500 in just four months

Published On: August 27, 2022 07:45 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, August 27: Nepal’s per capita debt reached Rs 68,907 as of mid-July, which was an increase of Rs 5,597 per person just in around four months’ period.

According to the Economic Survey 2021/22, the per capita debt of Nepal was Rs 63,310 per person as of mid-March. Two years ago, this was Rs 45,753.

In the new statistics, the country’s per capita debt has reached 41.5 percent of the GDP, shows the records with Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). Out of the amount, the ratio of foreign loan to GDP is 21.2 percent. An increasing unproductive expense of the government amid slow rate of revenue collection has been attributed for the soaring borrowing of the government.

According to the NRB, the country’s public borrowing amount has doubled in the past five years. In 2017/18, the figure was Rs 916 billion which rose to Rs 2.011 trillion as of the last fiscal year end. The foreign loans share Rs 1.027 trillion, almost half of the total amount.