Economy

Nigeria’s public debt increases by 118% to N97.3 trillion

Published

9 months ago

March 23, 2024

Nigeria’s total public debt stock has increased by 118% to N97.3 trillion. This is according to data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Friday in Abuja.

The data showed that the country’s total debt stock increased by 118 per cent year-on-year from N46.25 trillion as at December 2022 to N97.3 per cent in December 2023.

The DMO said the N97.3 trillion debt stock comprises of the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The debt office said that there was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for 30 September 2023.

It said that the increase was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the federal government to part-finance the deficit in the 2024 budget, and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 per cent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22trillion accounted for the balance of 39 per cent,” it said.

The DMO said that the country’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral and bilateral lenders.

The debt office said the move was consistent with the country’s debt management strategy.

It said that loans from multilateral sources constituted 49.77 per cent of the country’s external debt stock, while loans from bilateral sources constituted 16.02 per cent.

“That is a total of 63.79 per cent, mostly concessional and semi-concessional loans.

“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability,” it said.