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Opinion: Correcting a debt headline should lead to clearer public accounts

The Finance Division's October 8 clarification about state-owned enterprise debt makes an essential accounting point: a stock of obligations is not the same thing as new borrowing. That correction should open a discussion about clearer public reporting, not close the discussion about financial risk. The ministry says the widely reported Rs10.1 trillion figure covers consolidated interest-bearing obligations of federal state-owned enterprises. [...]