Nigeria's Public Debt Skyrockets to N87.3 Trillion in 3 months

On Thursday, The Debt Management Office (DMO) stated that the nation's total public debt had risen to N87.38 trillion at the end of Q2 2023.

The data presented by the commission shows that the figure grew to 75.29%, or N37.53 trillion, which is far from the records of March 2023, which show that Nigeria's debt settled at N49.85 trillion.

The report revealed by the DMO shows N22.71 trillion in Ways and Means Advances from the Central Bank of  Nigeria (CBN) to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

The Commission stated,

• Nigeria’s total public debt stock as at June 30, 2023, was N87.38tn ($113.42bn). It comprises the total domestic and external debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the thirty-six states, and the Federal Capital Territory.

• The major addition to the Public Debt Stock was the inclusion of the N22.712tn securitized FGN’s Ways and Means Advances.

• The reforms already introduced by the present administration and those that may emerge from the recommendations of the Fiscal Reform and Tax Policies Committee, are expected to impact debt strategy and improve debt sustainability.

However, DMO has predicted that Nigeria's debt will increase to N77 trillion after the former President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, got approval from the National Assembly to revitalize CBN Ways and Means Advances.

The CBN utilizes the Ways and Means Advances as a loan facility to aid the government when there’s a shortfall in the budget.

During a public presentation of the 2023 budget arranged by the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning,  the DG of DMO, Patience Oniha, said that the country's debt would rise to N70 trillion without N5 trillion in new borrowing and N2 trillion in promissory notes.

The latest data released by the DMO  shows that the current debt stock of N87.38 trillion surpasses the Commission projection of N10.38 trillion.

The breakdown shows that Nigeria has a total domestic debt of N54.13 trillion and a total external debt of N33.25 trillion.

Also, domestic debt amounts to 61.95% of total debt, and external debt amounts to 38.05%.