The debt management office noted that the debt figures showed that the implementation strategy of the government is already yielding positive results.
Nigeria’s debt stock increased by 3% from the N21.68 trillion recorded in December 2017 to N22.4 trillion ($73.21 billion) at the end of June 2018.
Patience Oniha, the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), made this known at a media briefing session in Abuja, on Tuesday, August 14, 2018.
She said the rise in total debt stock was recorded after the government issued a $2.5 billion Eurobond in February 2018.
Further analysis by DMO:
- The nation's debt stock decreased by 1.44% from N22.7 trillion recorded in March 2018 to N22.38 trillion in June 2018. the Debt office read.
- The decrease largely due to a 3.38% decline in Nigeria's domestic debt stock between March and June 2018.
- Marginal increases of 0.07% in the external debt stock and 2.75% in the domestic debt of states.
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A major highlight in the public debt figure revealed that there was the consistent decrease in the government's domestic borrowing from N12.589 trillion in December 2017 to N12.577 trillion in March 2017 and N12.151 Trillion in June 2018.
The debt management office noted that the debt figures showed that the implementation of the debt management strategy whose overall objective is to ensure that Nigeria’s debt is sustainable, is already yielding positive results.
Nigeria government to take more external loans
The Nigerian government is planning to obtain more external debt to execute some of the projects in the 2018 Appropriation Act.
Zainab Ahmed, the country's Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, said the external debt is important to cushion the effect of the huge deficit in the 2018 budget.
“The borrowing is one component of the funding, which is the major one for now and if we are not able to realise the two borrowing as projected in the budget, it will affect the performance of the budget,” she told Dailytrust newspaper.
In April, Kemi Adeosun, Nigeria's finance minister, said the country's public debt level is under control and sustainable.
She said the government will keep monitoring and analysing its debt levels at every stage so that they don’t fall into the trap that most African States had fallen into.
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