Status Paper on Government Debt released

On May 22, 2020, the Ministry of Finance released Status Paper on Government Debt 2018-19. According to the report, the overall debt of centres and states declined by 68.7% in March 2018 to 68.6% in 2019.

Highlights

The Status Paper on Government Debt is being produced by the Ministry of Finance since 2010. Current debt of India stands at Rs 1.3 crore crore.

Key Findings of paper

The debt of central government dropped marginally from 45.8% in 2017-18 to 45.7% in 2019, The external debt was 2.7% of GDP. The Average Interest Cost of the centre remained unchanged in the year 2018 to 2019. Around 94% of centre’s liabilities were of domestic debts.

The tenure of the longest security was 37 years.

Government Debt

The Government Debts are classified as internal debt and external debt. The Internal Debts include non-marketable and marketable debt. External debt refers to debt borrowed from all the sources outside the country.

Government Liabilities are classified into liabilities in public account and debt contracted against Consolidated Funds of India.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020