CEM REPORT | The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s total debt as of June this year stood at N42.84 trillion (103.31 billion dollars).
The DMO in a statement posted on its website yesterday revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock, comprising the debt obligations of the federal, state governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) rose by N1.24 trillion within three months, from N41.60 trillion ($100.07 billion) as at March 30, 2022, to N42.84 trillion ($103.31billion) by June 30, 2022.
A breakdown of the debt figures further reveals that the bulk of the federal government borrowings was done domestically, with 72.53 percent being FGN bonds.
“The total public debt stock, representing the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 state governments, and the Federal Capital Territory, was N42.84tn ($103.31 billion) as of June 30, 2022. The comparative figures for March 30, 2022, was N41.60tn ($100.07 billion).”
Furthermore, DMO released data also indicated that domestic debt stock for the review period stood at N26.23 trillion ($63.24 billion) due to new borrowings by the federal government to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation (Repeal and Enactment) Act, including fresh borrowings by state governments and the FCT.
From the N26.23 domestic debt stock, the 36 states and FCT owed N5.281 trillion, while the federal government accounted for the balance of N20.949 trillion.
The DMO while explaining that total public Debt to GDP as of June 30, 2022, was 23.06 percent, a decline from 23.27 percent as of March 30, 2022, also noted that the Debt Service-to-Revenue Ratio remained high.
DMO however stressed that external debt remained the same at N16.61trillion ($40.06 billion) from the first quarter (Q1) to the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, noting that 58 percent of external debts are concessional and semi-concessional loans from multilateral lenders, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), AfreximBank, and African Development Bank (AfDB), and bilateral lenders, such Germany, China, Japan, India, and France.
However, an analysis of the DMO data showed that domestic debt service in Q2’22 gulped N664, 728,501,948.46, a decline from the N668, 685, 710,112.98 committed to debt service in Q1’22
Debt service instruments on which the amount was expended included Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTBs), Federal Government Bonds, and FGN Savings Bonds, among others.
States with the most Debt Stock
Lagos State retained its top spot as the state with the highest debt stock. As of June 30, 2022, the total domestic debt stock of the country’s top commercial and economic centre stood at N797, 305,312,602.53.
Delta State came second with N378, 878,236,830.75, followed by Ogun State with N241, 782,021,304.96; Rivers State, N225, 505,011,356.83; and Imo State, N210, 394,836,519.93.
Akwa Ibom was next on the debtors’ scale with N203, 951,611,822.07, while Jigawa State retained its least-indebted state profile with 45,135,377,621.30, and Ebonyi State trailed with N59, 111,939,636.77.
