Nigeria’s Debt Profile Hits N39.55 Trillion, as Fuel Import Rises
- Nigeria has said its current public debt profile stands at N39.55 trillion as of December 2021. rising by 22.47 per cent
- The Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha said the current debt stock is still within sustainable limits
- According to her, it is getting tough servicing the loans as Nigerian government kept borrowing to meet finance deficit
Nigeria is indebted to the tune of N39.55 trillion as of December 2021, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
This is a N1.55 trillion or about 4.1 per cent increase in 3 months in comparison to the N38 trillion recorded as of September 2021, according to Nairametrics.
Source: Getty Images
The disclosure was made by the Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha during a press briefing on Thursday, March 17, 2022.
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A News Agency of Nigeria’s report says that the amount described the total external and domestic debt of the Nigeria Nigeria government as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
What the DMO says
Oniha stated that the increase in the public debt includes borrowings by both the Federal and state governments.
She said the Nigerian government borrowed about N5.48 trillion to finance part of the deficits.
The DMO helmswoman stated that new loans were raised from various sources which include the issuance of bonds, sovereign Sukuk and Federal Government of Nigeria bonds. She said Nigeria’s debt profile is within reasonable limits.
She said the Nigerian government has put in measures to tackle revenue issues that have made servicing the loans very tough.
Oniha, however, noted that the Federal Government has introduced measures to deal with revenue challenges which have made the servicing of the loans a tough one.
She said:
“These Capital raisings were utilised to finance capital projects and support economic recovery. With the total Public Debt-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio of 22.47 per cent, the debt ratio still remains within Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.
“This ratio is prudent when compared to the 55 per cent limit advised by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for countries in Nigeria’s peer group.
Odinkalu: Nigeria's public debt profile has tripled in 7 Years
Legit.ng has reported that Rights activist, Chidi Odinkalu, has said Nigeria’s debt profile has increased three times in the last seven years, that is since Muhammadu Buhari mounted the saddle as Nigeria’s president.
Odinkalu said this in a tweet but did not expatiate as he only provided an undated chat from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Odinkalu may not be an economist but available data from Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria’s debt profile has soared to about N35.65 trillion recently because of increased borrowing by Buhari's government.
Source: Legit.ng
