Nigeria’s total public debt stock more than doubled to N97.3 trillion in 2023, compared to the previous year.
The latest data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that the country’s total debt stock increased by 118 per cent year-on-year from N46.25 trillion as of December 2022 to N97.3 in December 2023.
The DMO said the N97.3 trillion debt stock comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
However, the public debt stock increased by N9.43 trillion in the last quarter of 2023 over the comparative figure for September 2023, which was mainly due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
Also, the massive depreciation of the Naira has resulted in a surge in the value of the country’s dollar-denominated external debt.
Domestic debt constitutes a significant majority of the total debt, standing at N59.12 trillion, accounting for 61 per cent of the total public debt stock.
Meanwhile, external debt amounted to 38.22 trillion Naira, representing 39 per cent.
Despite the escalating debt figures, DMO says it is committed to implementing best practices in public debt management.
$3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“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 said in a terse statement.
