Nepal’s per capita debt soars to Rs 74,516

Published On: June 21, 2023 05:30 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, June 21: Nepal's outstanding public debt liability has reached Rs 2.173 trillion as of mid-June this year.

According to the data released by the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO), it is seen that Nepal has an internal debt of Rs 1.997 trillion and external debt of Rs 1.735 trillion to pay.

This data was released at a time when issues were being raised in the parliament saying that when the deficit budget is introduced, the public debt will be increased every year and the burden of the obligation to pay the principal and interest will also increase in the annual budget of the government. The government has set a target of raising additional debt equal to four Rs 452.75 billion to meet the budget deficit of the next fiscal year.

Considering the size of Nepal's gross domestic product (GDP) at Rs 4.86 trillion, the ratio of public debt to GDP has reached 44.79 percent.

According to the 2021 census of Nepal published by the National Statistics Office, the total population is equal to 29,164,578. Comparing the total public debt with the total population, the per capita debt comes to Rs 74,516.