The Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced that Nigeria’s public debt figure has hit an astonishing total of N32.2tn at the end of September 2020.
The DMO made this announcement on Thursday.
This latest statistic means that the nation’s debt profile has now risen by N1.19tn between the second and third quarters of year 2020.
The figures were provided by the DMO via its website.
According to the information provided, the Federal Government’s total debt, as of September, stood at N28tn.
The debt of the states and the Federal Capital Territory, on the other hand, stood at N4.19tn.
The Nigeria’s public debt facts, when separated, showed that the domestic debt is N20tn or 62.18 per cent of the total debt.
Foreign debt represents 37.82 per cent.
When converted to dollar, Nigeria’s total debt shows a $84.57bn.
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Zainab Ahmed, The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, had predicted, last month, that Nigeria’s total public debt may rise further by N6tn, and hit N38.68tn by December 2021.
While speaking to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Ahmed stated that the projection was based on existing approvals.
Financial experts have recently expressed concern over the country’s rising debt stock.
This coincided with the Federal Government plans to fund the 2021 budget deficit with N4.28tn new borrowing, about one third of the N13.59tn budget signed by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Thursday.
The approved budget figures shows that N3.3bn would be spent on debt servicing.
Buhari’s tenure has seen a steady rise in the country’s debt profile.
By June 2015, 1 month after Buhari came into power, the country’s debt profile stood at N12.12tn.
The new figure released by DMO implies that Nigeria’s debt, since Buhari took over in 2015, has why N20.08tn in five years.
Within five and three months, the country’s debt profile rose by 165 per cent .