Nigeria’s total debt has risen by N2.044 trillion bringing the nations total debt to N41.6 trillion.
This is according to latest data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), which reveals that the increase was within the first three months of 2022 (Q1)
The DMO also revealed that the federal government of Nigeria, had spent N898.628 billion in servicing both its external and domestic debt obligations.
Breaking down the federal government spending on servicing its domestic debt, the DMO report states that N668.685 billion was spent in Q1 of 2022 representing a 115.4 percent increase from N310.497 billion in the last quarter of the previous year and 9.3 percent increase from N612.712 billion in Q1 of 2021.
From the DMO released data, N229.94 billion ($548.789 million) was disbursed to service external debt, against $286,352 million spent last quarter of 2021 and $1.003 million spent in Q1 of 2021.
Furthermore, Nigeria’s bilateral debt stood at $129.29 million of which $124.568 million was paid to the Export Import Bank of China. Multilateral creditors were also paid $173.337 million during the period under review.
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Moreso, the federal government plans to spend N3.9 trillion of the N16 trillion 2022 budget on servicing debt.
Domestic and external public debt stock of the federal government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at the close of Q1 of 2022 stood at N41.60 trillion ($100.07 billion) from N39.56 trillion ($95.78 billion) at the close of 2021.
Recall that at the close of 2021 the country’s total debt stood at N39.556 trillion ($95.779 billion) growing by N6.641 trillion from N32.915 trillion ($86.392 billion) at the close of 2020.
Although, Nigeria’s total public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 23.27 per cent. It is however below Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.
The debt office said the momentum by the government to grow and diversify revenues remain a priority to ensure that public debt is sustainable.
“Initiatives in this regard are yielding results as actual revenues from January to November 2021 at N5.51 trillion was 39.21 per cent more than the N3.96 trillion recorded in 2020. Similarly, the share of Non-oil Revenue grew to 80 per cent compared to 61 per cent in 2020,”
Recall that CEM reported that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that Nigeria may spend 100 percent of its revenue on debt servicing.
The rising debt continues to raise concerns that the country may soon run out of room to finance its debts.
