…as debt service gulps $3.5bn
Nigeria’s total public debt, comprising both local and foreign debts, increased by 11.4 percent to N97.1 trillion in December 2023, an indication of the country’s high appetite for debts, when compared with N87.4 trillion as of June 2023, implying that the Federal Government, states and FCT added new N9.96 trillion debts in the second half of 2023.
Nigeria’s total external debt stood at N38.22 trillion as of December 2023, comprising FG’s N34.07 trillion, and N4.15 trillion owed by the 36 states and FCT. The FG’s external debt, based on the data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), amounted to N34.07 trillion as of December 2023, representing an increase of 14 percent over N29.89 trillion as of June 2023. This amounted to an increase of N4.18 trillion in six months.
States and FCT incurred N4.15 trillion as of December 2023 compared to N3.35 trillion as of June 2023, representing an increase of N795.71 billion during the same period. Both the FG and states’ external debts amounted to 39.3 percent of Nigeria’s total public debt.
FG and states’ domestic debts constituted 60.7 percent of the nation’s total public debt. FG owed N53.26 trillion while states and FCT owed N5.86 trillion. Compared with June 2023, FG owed N48.31 trillion while states and FCT owed N5.82 trillion.
In the 2024 Appropriation Act, the FG made provisions for a total deficit of N7.83 trillion comprising new domestic borrowing of N6.06 trillion and new external borrowing of N1.77 trillion.
“The new domestic borrowing of N 1,767.61 6.06 trillion will be funded through the issuance of FGN Securities: FGN bonds, Nigerian treasury bills, Sukuk, green bonds and FGN savings bonds. The new external borrowing of N 1.76 trillion will be funded mainly through the issuance of Eurobonds and new multilateral and bilateral loans, including Export Credit subject to market and availability, respectively,” the Bank of Industry stated while presenting facts and figures on the 2024 appropriation act at the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, data from the CBN and DMO showed that Nigeria spent $3.50 billion on debt servicing in 2023. The spent gulped $112.35 million on debt servicing in January 2023; $288.54 million in February 2023; $400.47 million in March 2023; $92.85 million in April; $221.05 million in May 2023, and $54.36 million in June 2023.
Also, in July 2023 Nigeria spent $641.69 million, $309.96 million in August 2023; $439.06 million September 2023, $509.73 million in October 2023, $367.75 million in November 2023, and $65.69 million in December 2023.
