Nigeria’s total debt stock jumps to N42.84trn in June 2022

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has stated that/  Nigeria’s total public debt stock, rose to N42.84 trillion (103.31 billion dollars) in June 2022 from N41.60 trillion (100.07 billion dollars) in the previous month.

This is according to a statement obtained from DMO’s website. The total debt is the local and foreign debt stocks of the entire country including all the states.

The DMO stated that the foreign component of the debt remained at the same level of N16.61 trillion (39.96 billion dollars), while the local component spiked to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars).

DMO said, “The Total Public Debt Stock, representing the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was N42.84 trillion (USD103.31 billion) as at June 30, 2022. The comparative figures for March 30, 2022, was N41.60 trillion (USD 100.07 billion).”

More than 58 per cent of the stock of external debt, according to the DMO, is made up of concessional and semi-concessional loans. They came from bilateral lenders including Germany, China, Japan, India, and France as well as multilateral lenders like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Afrexim, and African Development Bank.The total domestic debt stock increased from N24,98 trillion (60.1billion dollars) in March to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars) in June.

“This is 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 DMO said.According to DMO, the total public debt-to-GDP ratio was 23.06 per cent, within acceptable bounds, although debt service to revenue was still high. The Debt Management Office also stated that the Federal Government was dedicated to raising revenue to lower the amount used to service debt.

“The Debt-to-GDP as of June 30, was 23.06 per cent compared to the ratio of 23.27 as at March 30. It remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.

“While the Federal Government 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,” it said.