This study is an attempt to explore social and economic determinants of external debt distress in five selected South Asian countries, that is, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, from 1980 to 2018, by using the contemporary panel fixed effect model and system generalized methods of moments. The findings revealed that the major determinants of external debt distress in selected South Asian countries are large and increasing current account deficits, lower gross capital formation, foreign direct investment and large military expenditures. Among selected socio-economic variables, the increase in life expectancy increases external debt distress, whereas urbanization reduces it considerably. The study urges selected South Asian countries to correct highly unfavourable current account balance, resolve regional conflicts leading to the reduction of the arms race and make the macroeconomic environment friendly for domestic and foreign investment to reduce exploding external debt distress.

JEL Classification: C33, E22, F32, H63

这项研究试图通过使用当代面板固定效应模型，探索1980年至2018年间五个选定的南亚国家（即孟加拉国，印度，尼泊尔，巴基斯坦和斯里兰卡）的外债困境的社会和经济决定因素。系统广义矩法。调查结果表明，某些南亚国家外债困扰的主要决定因素是庞大且经常账户赤字增加，资本形成总额降低，外国直接投资和大量军事支出。在选定的社会经济变量中，预期寿命的增加增加了外债的困扰，而城市化则大大减少了外债的困扰。该研究敦促选定的南亚国家纠正非常不利的经常账户余额，

JEL分类： C33，E22，F32，H63