Nigeria’s Debt Management Office has disclosed that Nigeria’s public debt reached N97.34 trillion ($108 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a statement released to the press on Friday.
The statement, provided by the DMO, highlights the significant increase in public debt, indicating the government’s reliance on borrowing to finance economic development initiatives.
The statement partly read, “Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as of December 31, 2023, was N97.34tn or $108.229bn.
“This amount comprises the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 States Governments and the Federal Capital Territory.”
The document revealed that this amount indicates an increase of N89.43tn over the comparative figure for September 2023 which was largely due to new domestic borrowing to partly finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
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It noted that, at N59.12trn, Total Domestic Debt accounted for 61 per cent of the Total Public Debt Stock, while External Debt at N1438.22trn accounted for the balance of 39 per cent.
“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,” the document added.
The DMO asserts its ongoing adherence to best practices in public debt management and pledges to enhance the country’s revenue generation efforts.
“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.
Meanwhile, in December 2023, Nigeria experienced a slight uptick in its total public debt, increasing by 0.61 percent quarter-on-quarter to reach N87.91 trillion in the third quarter of 2023.
