The Debt Management Office of Nigeria has revealed that Nigeria’s public debt has surged to N97.34tn as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
This was disclosed by DMO in a statement on Friday, according to The Punch.
One way that countries can get extra funding to boost their economies is through government debt. This way, a country can execute bigger projects that can aid its development. In this way, a country can carry out larger projects that can help its development.
The statement partly read, “Nigeria’s public debt stock as of December 31, 2023 was N97.34trn or $108.229bn.
“This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.”
The document shows a notable increment when compared to N88.43 trillion in September 2023.
The DMO explained that the increase was mainly due to new domestic borrowing by the government, and disbursements from multilateral and bilateral lenders to partially cover the deficit under the 2024 Appropriation Act.
It pointed out that domestic debt constituted 61% of public debt stock at N59.12 trillion, while external debt stood at 14.3822trn and accounted for 39% respectively.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 per cent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 per cent ) or a total of 63.79 per cent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practices in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability,” it stated.
The Debt Management Office claims that it has continued to apply best practices in managing public debt and is committed to ensuring it shore up the country’s revenues.
