Nigeria's Debt Rises To N10.84 Trillion!
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| Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala |
Statistics obtained from the DMO in Abuja on Monday showed that the total debt as of September 30 is higher than the total debt of the country as of September 30, 2013 by 30.29 per cent.
As of September 30, 2013, the total debt of the three tiers of government stood at N8.32trn. This, however, excluded the domestic debt of the states which was included in the current debt status of the country.
Details of the current debt status of the country showed that the external debts of both the Federal and state government stood at $9.52bn or N1.48trn.
As of September 30, the domestic debt stock of the Federal Government alone stood at $49.12bn or N7.65trn. The domestic debt of states, on the other hand, stood at $10.97bn or N1.71trn.
In comparison, the external debt of both the federal and state governments stood at N1.28trn (or $8.26bn) as of September 30, 2023. Also, the domestic debt of the Federal Government a year ago stood at N7.03trn.
Dissecting the Federal Government’s current domestic debt of N7.65trn by instruments, the Federal Government Bond contributed N4.6trn or 60.12 per cent to the profile; Nigerian Treasury Bills contributed N2.74trn or 35.76 per cent while Treasury Bonds contributed N315.39bn or 4.12 per cent.
As of June 2014, out of a total external debt of $3.01bn owed by the states, the Lagos State Government owed $1.02bn.
Other major holders of the country’s external sub-national debts included Kaduna State which owes $245.51m and Cross Rivers State, $120.21m. Others are Ogun State, $116.69m; Bauchi State, $111.61m; and Oyo State, $80.11m.
The states least exposed to foreign debts included Borno, $16.07m; Plateau, $22.99m; Taraba, $24.06m; Delta, $24.7m and Benue, $28.79m.
However, in comparison to the nation’s total external indebtedness, the states owed only 32.13 per cent; leaving the Federal Government with 67.87 per cent.
Loans from China Export Import Bank and monies raised from Eurobond accounted for $2.54bn of the Federal Government’s $6.36bn external debt while multilateral sources accounted for $3.82bn.
As of June 2013, the nation’s total external loan stood at $6.92bn. This means that over a period of one year, the country’s external debt rose by $2.46bn showing 35.51 per cent increase.
The growth of the nation’s debt stock can be seen in the budget for debt servicing. The Federal Government plans to spend N2.08tn servicing the country’s debt within the next three years.
The figures for debt servicing as well as the county’s debt stock are contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper of the Federal Government.
The document stated that while N591.76bn was utilised in servicing the nation’s debt in 2013, the sum of N712bn, N684bn and N684bn would be used for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 fiscal periods respectively.
