Nigeria’s public debt reached N97trn in December 2023 – DMO

Nigeria’s public debt stock as of Dec. 31, 2023, was N97.341 trillion (108.229 billion dollars),according to data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Friday in Abuja.

The DMO said that the amount comprised domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The debt office said that there was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for Sept. 30, 2023.

It said that the increase was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to partially finance the deficit in the 2024 budget and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent,” it said.

The DMO said that the country’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral and bilateral lenders.

The debt office said the move was consistent with the country’s debt management strategy.

It said that loans from multilateral sources constituted 49.77 percent of the country’s external debt stock, while loans from bilateral sources constituted 16.02 percent.

“That is a total of 63.79 percent, mostly concessional and semi-concessional loans.

“While the DMO continues to employ best practices in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability,” it said.