Nigeria’s Debt Hits N42.8trillion Under Buhari’s Government

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock under President Muhammadu Buhari increased from N41.60trillion to N42.84trillion within three months.

Nigeria’s Debt Increased By N1.24tn In Three Months

A statement published on the DMO’s website on Monday shows that Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased from N41.60tn as of March 2022 to N42.84tn as of June of the same year, showing an increase of N1.24tn in three months.

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).”

The DMO said the Federal Government was unable to secure any foreign loans in the second quarter of 2022, noting that external debt remained the same at N16.61tn ($40.06bn) from Q1 to Q2 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.

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 FCT.

The DMO further said that the Total Public Debt to GDP 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.

KanyiDaily recalls that the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu had justified Nigeria’s rising debt profile, saying President Muhammadu Buhari “can borrow from here to eternity”.