Parliament: The debt on each Bangladeshi’s head for the state has increased three times compared to that in 2000-01 fiscal year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told Parliament on Thursday.

After the 2014-15 fiscal year, the debt per head is Tk 26,152 which was Tk 9,114 in 2000-01, he said.

But about 2 months ago on 3 September 2015, State Minister for Finance MA Mannan, in reply to a question from lawmaker Nurjahan Begum, said the debt on each Bangladeshi’s head for the state was $169 which equals to Tk 13,160.

Responding to a starred question from AKM Zahangir Hossain (Patuakhali-3), Muhith said as of 30 June 2015 Bangladesh has received commitments of a total of US$ 91.47 billion assistance from various donor countries and agencies since the independence of the country. Of that amount, $61.83 billion is in debt and grants were $29.64 billion.

Almost a third of that committed amount though, never reached Bangladesh’s coffers. Some $64.79 billion - $39.50 billion debt and $25.29 billion as grant- was actually disbursed, Muhith said.

In the last fiscal (2014-15), the government had to pay its debt with Tk 1,419.29 crore in interest payments.