Nepal Airlines owes Rs 55.92 billion on loans for four aircraft, OnlineKhabar reports
Nepal Airlines Corporation owed Rs 55.92 billion on the loans it took for four aircraft at the end of FY 2082/83, OnlineKhabar reported on Monday from Financial Comptroller General Office data. Principal made up Rs 44.68 billion of that. Interest made up Rs 11.24 billion.
The corporation borrowed Rs 34 billion under a government guarantee for two wide-body and two narrow-body planes. The Employees Provident Fund lent Rs 22 billion and the Citizen Investment Trust Rs 12 billion, according to OnlineKhabar English and an earlier report by Business 360.
The size of the debt is not new. In May, reports drawn from the Auditor General's 63rd annual report put it at about Rs 55 billion, Republica among them. What Monday's figures add is the year-end split between principal and interest, from the government's own accounts.
The Rs 55.92 billion is principal and interest together, so it is not fresh borrowing. Neither OnlineKhabar report says how much the corporation repaid during the year, and no comment from the airline, the government or the two lenders appears in them.
Why it matters: The May figures did not agree. Republica took Rs 55.78 billion from the Auditor General's report, while Hamro Patro, citing Arthasarokar, carried Rs 55.05 billion.