Nigeria’s public debt hits N97.3trn in 2023- DMO

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced a 10 percent increase in Nigeria’s public debt to N97.3 trillion by the end of December 2023.

This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the thirty-six (36) state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September 2023, which was largely 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,” DMO said on Friday.

DMO said: “Nigeria’s public debt stock as of December 31, 2023, was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion.

The Office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion.

The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.

According to DMO, “At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.

“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or a total of 63.79 percent 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.”