Nigeria’s public debt rises to N31 trillion

Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased by about N2.38 trillion, or $6.593billion, as of June 30, the Debt Management Office (DMO) announced on Wednesday.

The agency said in a statement in Abuja that the country’s total debt portfolio grew from about N28.628 trillion, or $79.303 billion, as of March 31 to over N31.009 trillion, or $85.897 billion, in the period under review.

Details of the increment, the DMO said, showed about $3.36 billion came from Budget Support Loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while the balance are new domestic borrowings to finance the revised 2020 Appropriation Act.

The new domestic borrowings include a N162.557 billion Sukuk and promissory notes issued to settle claims of exporters.

The data showed the new debt figure comprised the debt stock of the federal government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.

The total external debt stands at about N11.363 trillion, or $31.477 billion, about 35.65 per cent of the overall outlay, against total domestic debt of about N19.945 trillion, or $54.419 billion, about 63.35 per cent of the total portfolio.

Of the total external debt stock, the federal government accounted for N9.824 trillion, or $27.214 billion (about 31.6 per cent) of external debts; and N15.456 trillion, or $42.814 billion (about 49.84 per cent) of the domestic debts.

The states and the FCT owe about N1.539 trillion, or $4.263 billion (about 4.96 per cent) of the total external debt figure, and about N4.190 trillion, or $11.606 billion, (13.51 per cent) of the total domestic debt figure.

The DMO said it expected the Public Debt Stock to grow from the expected disbursements by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank arranged to finance the 2020 Budget.

The fundamentals and benchmarks in the 2020 Appropriation Act were revised following the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic on government’s revenues amid increased expenditure on health and economic emergency stimulus amongst others.

The DMO said additional promissory notes would be issued in the course of the year, along with new borrowings by state governments which would further increase the public debt stock.

Details of the debts stock, showed that the multilateral loans category consisted IMF $3.359 billion, while the World Bank Group and African Development Bank (AfDB) Group $16.36 billion. The three financial institutions accounted for about 52 per cent of the country’s total $31.477.14 billion debt stock.

The breakdown of the debt to World Bank’s affiliate institutions showed International Development Association (IDA) $10.05 billion; and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) $409.51 million.

Similarly, the debt to African Development Bank stands at about $1.326 billion; Africa Growing Together Fund $0.14 million; African Development Fund $921.91 million; Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa $5.88million; European Development Fund $52.52million; Islamic Development Bank $30.22million, and International Fund For Agricultural Development $201.68million.

On the bilateral level, Nigeria’s total debt to various institutions is about $3.949 billion, or 12.54 per cent of the total debt stock.

They consist of those to Chinese financial institutions, including a Exim Bank of China $3.241billion; French institutions (Agence Francaise Development) $403.65milion; Japanese (Japan International Cooperation Agency) $76.69million; India (Exim Bank of India) $34.87million, and Germany (Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbua) $192.71 million.

Commercial debt instrument debts totaling $11.16.35 billion, which account for about 35.48 per cent of the total debt, include Eurobonds $10,868.35bilion; Diaspora Bond $300million

Further details of the total N15.456 trillion Federal Government debts stock by instruments of as at the date under review showed that FGN Bonds of N11.241 trillion, or 72.75 per cent; Nigerian Treasury Bills N2.760trillion, or 17.86 per cent; Nigerian Treasury Bonds N100.988 bilion, or 0.65 per cent; FGN Savings Bond $12.984billion, or 0.08 per cent; FGN Sukuk N362.557billion, or 2.35 per cent, Green Bond N25.690billion, or 0.17 per cent, and Promissory Notes N951.740billion, or 6.16 per cent.

Details of the debts stock of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory stood at about N4.190 trillion, with Lagos N493.32 billion; Rivers N266.94 billion, Akwa Ibom N239.21billion and Delta N235.86 billion among the top debtors in the country.

The four states are among the richest states in the country.