TheCable

The Debt Management Office (DMO) says Nigeria’s total public debt (federal and state governments) hit N41.6 trillion at the end of the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.

This represents an increase of N2.04 trillion compared to the N39.56 trillion recorded at the end of December 2021.

In a statement on Tuesday, DMO attributed the increase to new domestic borrowing by the federal government to partly finance the deficit in the 2022 budget, the $1.25 billion eurobond issued in March 2022, and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

The agency said that there were also increases in the debt stock of the state governments and the federal capital territory (FCT).

“The total public debt stock as at March 31, 2022, was N41.60tn or $100.07 billion,” the statement reads.

“The amount represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the federal government of Nigeria, the thirty-six state governments, and the FCT.

“The comparative figures for December 31, 2021, were N39.56tn or $95.78billion.”

The debt management agency said the total public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was 23.27 percent as of March 31, 2022.

This, it explained, is still below Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 percent.

According to the agency, the momentum by the government to grow and diversify revenues remains a priority in order to ensure debt sustainability.

“Initiatives in this regard are yielding results as actual revenues for January to November 2021 at N5.51 trillion was 39.21 percent more than the N3.96 trillion recorded in 2020,” the statement adds.

“Similarly, the share of non-oil revenue grew to 80 percent compared to 61 percent in 2020.”