Consider the following statement about 28th Edition of Status Report on India’s External Debt:

I. External Debt Management Unit (EDMU) works under the Department of economic Affairs.

II. EDMU has released 28th edition of the Status Report on India’s External Debt 2022-23.

III. India’s external debt, at US$ 620.7 billion as at end-March 2022, grew by 8.2 % over US$ 573.7 billon as at end-March 2021.

Which of the above statement is/are not correct?

Solution

External Debt Management Unit (EDMU) in the Department of economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, has released 28th edition of the Status Report on India’s External Debt 2021-22. India’s external debt, at US$ 620.7 billion as at end-March 2022, grew by 8.2 % over US$ 573.7 billon as at end-March 2021. External debt as a ratio to GDP fell marginally to 19.9 % as at end-March 2022 from 21.2 % a year ago. Foreign currency reserves as a ratio to external debt stood slightly lower at 97.8 % as at end-March 2022 than 100.6 % a year ago. The long-term debt estimated at US$ 499.1 billion, constituted the largest chunk of 80.4 %, while the short-term debt, at US$ 121.7 billion, accounted for 19.6 % of the total. As at end-March 2022, sovereign external debt (SED) amounted to US$ 130.7 billion, increasing by 17.1 % over the level a year ago, reflecting the additional allocation of SDRs by the IMF during 2021-22. The debt service ratio fell to 5.2 % during 2021-22 from 8.2 % during 2020-21 due to buoyancy in current receipts and a decline in debt service payments.