The Coalition Government has borrowed $850 million since taking office, as reported by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Strategic Planning, Professor Biman Prasad, in a recent Parliamentary session. This query was raised regarding the total loans acquired by the government from December 2022 to July 2024, the utilization of these funds, and the allocation between operational expenses and capital expenditure.
Professor Prasad noted that when the government took power in December 2022, the national debt was at $9,458.7 billion. By the close of the fiscal year 2023/2024, this amount increased to $10,308.7 billion. He clarified that the $850 million borrowed within this timeframe was entirely allocated to financing capital expenditures outlined in the budgets for FY2022-2023 and FY2023-2024.
As of July 3, 2024, of the total government debt, $6.5 billion originated from domestic borrowings while $3.7 billion came from external debts. To provide context, government debt stood at $7 billion in July 2021, rising above $9 billion in both 2022 and 2023.