May 23: Nepal's public debt liability has exceeded Rs 2150 billion. According to the Public Debt Management Office, Nepal has been obliged to pay its public debt amounting over to Rs 2154.12 billion, including Rs 1083.47 billion towards internal debt and Rs 1070.64 billion towards external debt as of May 14, 2023.    
Nepal's public debt liability was Rs 2013.29 billion until mid-July last year when the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23) had begun.    
Public debt amounting to Rs 140.82 billion was added to the country's debt portfolio in the last 10 months of the current fiscal year.    
The ratio of public debt to the GDP appeared to be 44.40 percent while considering Nepal's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) as Rs 4851.62 billion, the office said.    
The rise of public debt ratio to the GDP and weak economic growth rate due to low capital formation could put the country's economy in crisis in the coming days.    
According to the Public Debt Management Office, the government has raised public debt of Rs 230.24 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year. Likewise, the government has paid principle and interest amounting to Rs 143.42 billion in the review period.    
As of May 14 this year, the government spending in the repayment of principle and interest of public debt exceeded the capital spending by around Rs 18 billion. The government has spent Rs 125.67 billion towards capital budget up to May 14 this year.    
On the one hand, the government's capacity to collect public revenue has declined resulting in a budget deficit while on the other hand a large sum of the annual budget is being spent for the repayment of principle amount of the rising public debt. -- RSS