Nigeria's Public Debt Stock rises to N87trn

Nigeria’s total Public Debt Stock hit N87.91trn ($114.35bn) as at September 30, according to a Statement by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday in Abuja.

The DMO said that the amount represented the Domestic and External Debts of the Federal Government, the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The N87.91trn total Debt Stock represents a marginal increase of 0.61 per cent, when compared to the June figure of N87.38trn.

The Debt Office said this trend was explained by the decrease in External Debt from $43.16bn as at June 30 to $41.59bn as at September 30.

It said that there was also a relatively moderate increase of N1.80trn in the Domestic Debt.

“External Debt decreased due to a redemption of $500m Eurobond.

“It also decreased due the payment of $413.959m as first principal repayment of the $3.4bn Loan obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2020, during Covid-19,” the DMO said.

According to DMO, the servicing of all the Debts is a clear demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to honouring its Debt Obligations.

It, however, said that President Bola Tinubu’s Revenue Generation Initiatives remained important to Nigeria’s overall Fiscal Balance.