New Delhi: The country’s total external debt rose 2.8 percent to $ 558.5 billion by the end of March. In the report released on Saturday by the Finance Ministry, the total external debt has increased due to increasing commercial credit. The total external debt at the end of March 2019 was $ 543 billion.
The report stated that at the end of March 2020, the foreign exchange reserves ratio on external debt was 85.5 percent. It was 76 percent in the year-ago period. The ‘External Debt of India: A Status Report: 2019-20’ said that external debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio increased marginally to 20.6 percent. It was 19.8 percent in the year-ago period.
Sovereign debt declined by 3 percent to $ 100.9 billion as of March 2019. The report said that this decrease is mainly due to a decrease in the investment of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in government securities (G-Sec). FPI’s investment in government securities declined 23.3 percent to $ 21.6 billion from $ 28.3 billion a year earlier.
