Nigeria’s Debt Stock Expands Further To N42.8trillion In June Vs N41.6 In March

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO) latest reports, Nigeria’s total debt stock stood at N42.84 trillion or $103.31 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2022, up from N41.60 trillion or $100.07 billion in the first quarter of this year.

A statement posted on its website, the debt office said the amount represents the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the thirty-six (36) State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The DMO stated that total External Debt Stock was $40.06 billion, the equivalent of N16.61 trillion in local currency as of June 30, 2022, which was about the same level as the figure for March 31, 2022. The external stood at $39.96 billion in the first quarter of the year.

“Over fifty-eight per cent of the External Debt Stock are concessional and semi-concessional loans from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Afrexim and African Development Bank and bilateral lenders including Germany, China, Japan, India and France,” the debt office said.

The Total Domestic Debt Stock as of June 30, 2022, was N26.23 trillion or $63.24 billion due to New Borrowings by the FGN to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, as well as New Borrowings by State Governments and the FCT. The Total Public Debt to GDP as of June 30, 2022, was 23.06% compared to the ratio of 23.27 per cent as of March 30, 2022 and remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.

While the FGN continues to implement revenue-generating initiatives in the non-oil sector and block leakages in the oil sector, Debt Service-to-Revenue Ratio remains high. In its Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) prepped for 2023 to 2025, the Minister of Finance and Budget, Zainab Ahmed stated that the country plans to borrow up to N11 trillion to finance next year’s budget deficits,

The budget which is expected to be laid before the National Assembly in the first week of October by President Mohammadu Buhari has an estimated N19 trillion outlay or next year. However, the minister of finance and budget, Zainab Ahmed said the nation is in dire need of revenue to match its expenditure as the debt stock widens.

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