KATHMANDU: Nepal’s sovereign debt has exceeded Rs 2400 billion as of mid-June 2024, according to the Public Debt Management Office.

This total includes Rs 1192.48 billion in internal debt and Rs 1207.86 billion in external debt.

As of mid-July last year, at the beginning of the current fiscal year 2023/24, Nepal’s debt was Rs 2299.35 billion.

Over the past 11 months, an additional Rs 101 billion has been added to the country’s debt portfolio.

Of the total sovereign debt, 49.68% is internal debt and 50.32% is external debt.

Regarding external debt, the government owes over Rs 1071 billion to multilateral lenders and Rs 136.74 billion to bilateral lenders.

Under internal debt, development bonds account for the highest liability at over Rs 764.94 billion, followed by Treasury Bills at Rs 412.69 billion.

The government had set a target of raising Rs 452.75 billion in loans for the current fiscal year, aiming to collect Rs 240 billion through internal loans and Rs 212.75 billion through external loans.

As of mid-May, the government has collected Rs 225 billion internally and Rs 82.67 billion externally, which is 67.96% of the annual target.

Office Chief Dirgha Raj Mainali reported that Rs 145 billion remains to be collected to meet the target.

In the current fiscal year, the government allocated Rs 225.17 billion to repay the principal amount of debts and another Rs 225.17 billion to pay the interest.

So far, Rs 197.32 billion has been paid off as the principal amount and Rs 31.52 billion as interest, according to the Public Debt Management Office.