States in Nigeria With The Highest External Debts as National Debt Stock Hits $41.77 Billion

• Nigeria's total debt stock has climbed above the $41 billion mark as of March this year, according to Debt Management Office
• The DMO also listed states in Nigeria which contribute a large chunk of the country's total external debt
• According to data, the states of Lagos, Kaduna and Cross are the highest indebted states in the external debt profile

According to the Debt Manage Management Office (DMO) Nigeria’s debt stock has hit about $41.77 billion as of March 2022.

A good number of these debts are external borrowings by states in Nigeria which contribute a large chunk of the total debt stocks.

Of the total external debt stock, Lagos State, Kaduna and Cross River are the leading states in Nigeria.

As of December 2021, the states with the highest external debts were Lagos, Kaduna, Cross River, Edo, and Rivers.

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Lagos: $1.33 billion

The nation’s commercial centre has the most external debt of March 2022, according to a document obtained by Legit.ng

The state owes $1.33 billion as of December 2021, down from $1.40 billion it had in December 2020, DMO’s data states.

The state’s external debt increased to $1.47 billion in December 2017 from 1.21 billion in December 2015, according to a report by BusinessDay.

Kaduna: $567.48 million.

Kaduna has the second-highest foreign debt as of December 2021. The state’s foreign debt increased to 567.48 million by the end of 2021 from $554.78 million at the end of last year from $554.78 in December 2020 and $222.88 million in 2016.

Cross River: 279.7 million

Cross River State had an external debt of $279.7 million in December 2021.

Its external debt had fallen to $192.5 million in December 2020 from $209 million in December 2019. It stood at $115 million in December 2016.

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Edo: $276.3 million

Edo State brought down its external debt to $276.3 million in December 2021 from $280.3 million in the year before. Its external debt stood at $168.2 million as of December 2015.

Rivers: 147.8 million

River State saw its external debt skyrocket to $147.8 million in December 2021 from $96.7 million in December 2020.

The state’s external debt stood at $46.9 million in December 2015.

Lagos, Ogun top List of highest indebted states in Nigeria, taking total domestic debts to N4.46 Trillion

Legit.ng reported that Lagos State is leading the pack of 10 most indebted states in Nigeria followed by Ogun State with the highest domestic debts as of December 31, 2022. This accounts for 25.1 per cent at N1.2 trillion of the total debts by states.

Domestic borrowings by the 36 states in Nigeria including the Federal Capital Territory rose by N272.23 billion in 2021 to stand at N4.46 trillion in comparison with 4.18 trillion recorded at the same time last year, data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) says.

The data also shows that Lagos, Ogun, Imo states had the highest year-to-year increase in terms of the domestic debt profile with Lagos State owing to the tune of N658.98 billion and its neighbour, Ogun with a local debt of N232.62 billion, a Nairametrics report says.

Source: Legit.ng