Nigeria’s debt hit N97.34tn in Q4 2023 – DMO

The Debt Management Office of Nigeria has revealed that Nigeria’s public debt surged to N97.34trn ($108bn) as of the fourth quarter of 2023.

DMO disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Friday.

Public debt is one of the ways for a country to get extra funds for economic development. This way, a country can plan and undergo bigger projects that can aid its development.

The statement partly read, “Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as of December 31, 2023, was N97.34tn or $108.229bn.

“This amount comprises the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the 36 States Governments and the Federal Capital Territory.”

The document revealed that this amount indicates an increase of N89.43tn over the comparative figure for September 2023 which was largely due to new domestic borrowing to partly finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

It noted that, at N59.12trn, Total Domestic Debt accounted for 61 per cent of the Total Public Debt Stock, while External Debt at N1438.22trn accounted for the balance of 39 per cent.

“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s External Debt Stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 per cent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 per cent ) or a total of 63.79 per cent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional,” the document added.

The DMO says it has continued to employ the best practices in public debt management and is committed to shore up the country’s revenue.

“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practices in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability,” it stated.

Meanwhile, in December 2023, Nigeria’s total public debt rose marginally by 0.61 per cent quarter-on-quarter to N87.91trn in the third quarter of 2023.