The Debt Management Office(DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s public debt hit a total staggering figure of N32.2tn at the end of September 2020. This was contained in a statement announced by the DMO on Thursday.
The figure implies that the nation’s debt profile rose by N1.19tn between the second and third quarters of 2020.
According to a tabulation and statistical breakdown offered by the DMO on its website, the Federal Government’s total debt figure stood at N28tn as at the end of September while the existing debt figures of the states and the Federal Capital Territory stood at N4.19tn.
According to DMO, a further analysis of Nigeria’s public debt showed that the domestic debt currently stands at N20tn or 62.18 per cent of the total debt while foreign debt stands exactly at 37.82 per cent.
Interestingly, while in dollar terms, Nigeria’s total debt is $84.57bn. Recall that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had said last month maintained that Nigeria’s total public debt may rise further by N6tn, staggering up to N38.68tn by December 2021.
The minister reportedly told the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts that the projection was based on existing approvals.
Financial Experts have expressed serious concern over the country’s rising debt stock even as the Federal Government plans to fund the 2021 budget deficit with N4.28tn new borrowing which is reportedly about one third of the N13.59tn budget which was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A further tabulation and statistical breakdown of the approved budget figures shows N3.3bn would be spent on debt servicing.
However, as at the end of June 2015, one month after Buhari came into power, the country’s debt profile stood at N12.12tn.
Given this latest figures released by DMO, the implication of Nigeria’s debt burden since Buhari took over in 2015 has risen by N20.08tn in five years.
In addition, it also implies that the country’s debt profile has risen by 165 per cent within five and three months.
