KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Nepal has accumulated more than Rs 57.71 billion in public debt in the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023/24, bringing the total to Rs 2.36 trillion by mid-November, up from Rs 2.29 trillion in mid-July, according to the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO).
The PDMO's statistics until mid-November reveal that Nepal's outstanding domestic debt is Rs 1.18 trillion, while the external debt stands at Rs 1.17 trillion. In the initial four months of the current FY, the government made interest payments of Rs 65.45 billion on internal debt and Rs 16.18 billion on external debt.
Take prudent measures to curb public debt
Examining the debt collection scenario from mid-July to mid-November, a total of Rs 113.2 billion was raised, with internal debt amounting to Rs 97.31 billion and external debt at Rs 15.85 billion.
During the first quarter of the year, expenditure on principal and interest payments of public debt was nearly three times higher than the government's capital expenditure. By mid-November, the government allocated Rs 29.99 billion for capital expenditure, while Rs 81.64 billion was spent on public debt interest payments.
