Nigeria’s Debt Rises By N1.24trn In Second Quarter, Hits N42.84trn

The Federal Government’s appetite for borrowing continued in the second quarter of this year with the debt stock rising by N1.24trn to N42.84trn.

Figures released by the Debt Management Office revealed that domestic debt has pushed Nigeria’s total public debt stock from N41.60tn as of March 2022 to N42.84tn as of June of the same year.

This was contained in a press statement released by the DMO.

According to the DMO, the Federal Government was unable to secure any foreign loans in the second quarter of 2022.

It added that 58 per cent of external debt was concessional and semi-concessional loans from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Afrexim, African Development Bank and bilateral lenders, including Germany, China, Japan, India and France.

The statement read in part, “The Total Public Debt Stock, representing the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory, was N42.84tn ($103.31bn) as at June 30, 2022. The comparative figures for March 30, 2022, was N41.60tn ($100.07bn).”

It also noted that domestic debt rose to N26.23tn ($63.24bn) due to new borrowings by the government to part-finance the deficit in 2022 Appropriation {Repeal and Enactment) Act, as well as new borrowings by state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.

The DMO further said that the Total Public Debt to Gross Domestic Product as at June 30, 2022 was 23.06 per cent compared to the ratio of 23.27 per cent as at March 36 2022, adding that the debt service-to-revenue ratio remained high.