Nepal's short-term debt (% of total reserves) was 2.67% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 2.69 percentage points from 5.36% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 2.67% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 4.62% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 5.36% | 2014 |
| Highest | 41.87% | 1983 |
| Lowest | 1.06% | 1992 |
| Average since 2015 | 3.68% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 14.25% | 1977 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Nepal's short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 0.68 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.35% to 2.67%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.7 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 27.34 percentage points in 1983 and the biggest yearly fall was 23.21 percentage points in 1984. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.16 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 51% of the movement over 10 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2024, Nepal had the 84th highest value of the 96 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Nepal | 2.67% | 2024 |
| South Asia | 23.1% | 2024 |
| Lower middle income | 29.3% | 2024 |
Closest to Nepal in the 2024 ranking
- Madagascar — 81st of 96: 3.65%
- Serbia — 82nd of 96: 3.28%
- Papua New Guinea — 83rd of 96: 3.27%
- Belize — 85th of 96: 2.64%
- Algeria — 86th of 96: 2.12%
- Chad — 87th of 96: 1.91%
What this measures
Short-term debt includes all debt having an original maturity of one year or less and interest in arrears on long-term debt. Total reserves includes gold.
Limitations: The DRS encourages debtor countries to voluntarily provide information on their short-term external obligations. By its nature, short-term external debt is difficult to monitor: loan-by-loan registration is normally impractical, and monitoring systems typically rely on information requested periodically by the central bank from the banking sector. The World Bank regards the debtor country as the authoritative source of information on its short-term debt. Where such information is not available from the debtor country, data are derived from BIS data on international bank lending based on time remaining to original maturity.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 48 values
| Year | Short-term debt (% of total reserves) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 2.67 |
| 2023 | 3.35 |
| 2022 | 3.45 |
| 2021 | 3.48 |
| 2020 | 3.14 |
| 2019 | 4.62 |
| 2018 | 3.02 |
| 2017 | 4.46 |
| 2016 | 4.33 |
| 2015 | 4.29 |
| 2014 |
Short-term debt (% of total reserves) in nearby economies
- Bangladesh — 60.51% (2024)
- Bhutan — 0% (2024)
- India — 21.7% (2024)
- Maldives — 23.72% (2024)
- Sri Lanka — 95.47% (2024)
More economic policy & debt data for Nepal
- Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$21.1 billion (2025)
- Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$19.98 billion (2025)
- Services, value added (current US$) — US$24.73 billion (2025)
- Services, value added (current LCU) — 3.37 trillion (2025)
- Services, value added (% of GDP) — 54.37% (2025)
- Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current US$) — US$40.02 billion (2025)
- Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current LCU) — 5.45 trillion (2025)
- GDP (current US$) — US$45.49 billion (2025)
- GDP (current LCU) — 6.2 trillion (2025)
- GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$36.54 billion (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Nepal's short-term debt (% of total reserves)?
- 2.67% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1977?
- It is down 11.58 percentage points from 14.25% in 1977. The highest value was 41.87% in 1983 and the lowest 1.06% in 1992.
- How does Nepal rank?
- 84th highest of 96 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in short-term debt (% of total reserves) unusual for Nepal?
- In 2024, Nepal's short-term debt (% of total reserves) fell 0.68 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.35% to 2.67%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.7 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator DT.DOD.DSTC.IR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB); International Monetary Fund (IMF), type: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files; World Bank (WB), type: GDP estimates; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), type: GDP estimates Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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