DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says the Coalition Government inherited a public debt of close to $10 billion dollars, and in the 2023-2024 fiscal year will have to look for $1 billion to service the debt.

He said almost one dollar out of every four in the 2023-2024 National Budget would be spent servicing Government debt.

“In the upcoming financial year, we must find a staggering $1 billion dollars to service this debt,” he said while delivering the 2023-2024 national budget this morning in Parliament.

“That is about $536 million dollars for interest payments and another $516 million dollars for principal repayments alone.”

More on this story in tomorrow’s The Fiji Times.