8th Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt

The Central Government  released the Eighth Edition of the Status Paper on the Government Debt, which provides a detailed analysis of the Overall Debt Position of the Government of India. The Central Government has been bringing-out an Annual Status Paper on Government Debt since 2010-11.

This paper enhances transparency by providing a detailed account of debt operations during the year and an assessment of the health of the public debt portfolio based on internationally accepted debt performance indicators. The paper also covers details of fiscal deficit financing operations of the Central Government during the year 2017-18. The overall liabilities of the Central Government are on a medium-term declining trajectory and Government’s Debt Portfolio is characterised by prudent risk profile. Government is primarily resorting to market linked borrowings for financing its fiscal deficit. Conventional indicators of Debt sustainability, i.e., Debt/GDP ratio, interest payment to revenue receipts, shares of short-term Debt/External Debt/FRBs in total debt indicate that the debt profile of the Government is comfortably placed in terms of debt sustainability parameters and is consistently improving. The Paper also provides Debt Management Strategy of the Central Government for the years 2018-21 which will guide the borrowing plans of the Government.

The Status paper is available on the Ministry of Finance’s website http://www.dea.gov.in/central-government-borrowings