Nigeria’s Debt Moves up to $49 TRILLION

The Debt Management Office disclosed in a statement released on Friday evening that Nigeria’s total foreign debt has risen to N49.95 trillion which is equivalent to $108.30 billion as of March 31^st from N46.25 trillion as of December 2022. So this means that the nation’s debt increased by N3 trillion in three months.

The statement revealed that the N49 trillion debt included both the total external and internal debts of all the states of the country and the FCT.

The DMO’s Statement

“As of March 31, 2023, the Total Public Debt Stock comprising the external and domestic debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the thirty-six (36) States, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was N49.85 Trillion (USD 108.30 Billion).”

“Comparatively, the Total Public Debt Stock for the preceding period, December 31, 2022, stood at N46.25 Trillion (USD 103.31 Billion). During the period, there were increases in the debt stock of the FGN, States, and the FCT.”

“The Public Debt Stock for March 2023 does not include the FGN’s N22.719 Trillion Ways and Means Advances of the Central Bank of Nigeria whose securitization was approved by the National Assembly in May 2023. The amount will be included in the FGN’s Domestic Debt Stock from June 2023.”

Recall that, as of December, the DMO disclosed that the public debt was N46.25 trillion. The total internal debt was N27.55 trillion while the total external was N18.70 trillion. By the end of March 2023, the total external debt rose to N19.64trillion while the total internal debt rose to N30.20 trillion.