The Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced that Nigeria’s public debt hit a total of N31.01tn at the end of June 2020.
According to the data released by the DMO, this implies that the country’s debt rose by N18.89tn in the last five years under President Muhammadu Buhari.
The country’s debt profile, it was gathered, stood at N12.12tns as of the end of June 2015, one month after the present Buhari-led government came into power.
Nigeria’s total public debt stock includes the debt stock of the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory but most of the debts were contracted by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria had on Tuesday released some data showing that the Federal Government’s component of the country’s debt stood at N24.52tn as of March 31.
A statement issued by the DMO on Wednesday indicated that the debt increased by N2.38tn within the space of three months.
For the country’s public debt stock as of June 30, 2020, the DMO said:
The data show that in naira terms, the total public debt stock which comprises the debt stock of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the FCT stood at N31.009tn or $85.897bn.
The corresponding figures for March 31, 2020 were N28.628tn or $79.303bn.
The debt office further revealed that the increase in the debt stock by N2.381tn or $6.59bn was accounted for by the $3.36bn budget support loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and new domestic borrowing to finance the revised 2020 Appropriation Act.
It said this includes the issuance of the N162.56bn Sukuk and promissory notes issued to settle claims of exporters.
The debt office said:
The DMO expects the public debt stock to grow as the balance of the new domestic borrowing is raised and expected disbursements are made by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank which were arranged to finance the 2020 Budget.
Recall that the 2020 Appropriation Act had to be revised in the face of the adverse and severe impact of COVID-19 on government’s revenues and increased expenditure needs on health and economic stimulus, among others.
It stated that additional promissory notes were expected to be issued in the course of the year.
This and new borrowings by state governments were also expected to increase the public debt stock, the DMO explained.
