Nigeria’s Public Debt Reaches N44 Trillion

The overall public debt stock, according to DMO, is made up of N17.5 trillion in external debt and N26.92 trillion in domestic debt.

DMO said, “Total public debt stock which comprises the total domestic and external debt stock of the federal government of Nigeria (FGN), all State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stood at N44.06 trillion.

“In comparison, the total public debt figure as of June 30, 2022, was N42.84 trillion. The total domestic stock as of September 30, 2022, was N26.92 trillion while the total external debt stock as of September 30, 2022, was N17.15 trillion.

“The increase in the Debt Stock was largely due to New Borrowings by the Federal Government to part-finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation Act, as well as, New Borrowings by sub-nationals.”

The country paid N1.17 trillion on debt service in Q3’22, according to data from the DMO’s external and domestic debt service.

This is broken down into N820.59 billion for servicing domestic debt and N356.92 billion ($801.23 million) for servicing external debt.

Nigeria spent $9.6 billion servicing foreign debts over a 12-year period, from 2010 to 2021, according to the World Bank‘s International Debt Report, IDR, which also noted that the country’s debt stock is not represented in the economy.