Nigeria’s debt stock rises to N20.37trn on govt increased borrowing to fund deficits

Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced Tuesday that the countries debt stock profile rose to N20.37 trillion as at September 30 this year. This is just as government was given the go-ahead to borrow some more, about $5.5 billion by the National Assembly Tuesday to fund the N2.7 trillion deficit in the 2017 budget

The debt stock has since risen to N20.81 trillion as at date, according to figures gleaned from the FMDQ site by businessamlive.

In a statement, the DMO said the total public debt stock comprising the Federal Government, the 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory, stood at N20.37 trillion as of September 30, representing a marginal increase of 3.6 percent from the N19.64 trillion on June 30.

A breakdown of the debt stock shows that domestic debt accounted for 76.96 percent, while external debt accounted for 23.04 percent.

Specifically, domestic debt stock stood at N15.68 trillion, which is an increase of 4.1 percent compared to N15.03 trillion as of June 30. On the other hand, external debt stock stood at N4.69 trillion, a marginal rise of 1.9 percent above the N4.6 trillion on June 30.

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According to DMO, the debt data lend credence to government’s claims that the public debt stock was skewed in favour of domestic debt, which is partly responsible for the high debt service figures.

It is against this background that analysts have commended the government on its strategy of introducing lower cost external debt into the debt stock in order to reduce debt service costs.

For this purpose, the government is making arrangements to raise external funds of $5.5bn.

According to DMO, the amount which comprises of $2.5bn in new borrowing to part finance the N2.32tn deficit in the 2017 Appropriation Act and $3bn to repay maturing domestic debt is expected to achieve a reduction in interest costs of about N75bn and N91bn respectively when compared to the interest cost of borrowing in Naira in the domestic market.

The strategy will also contribute to attaining the target ratio of 60:40 between domestic and external debt, the DMO said.

Other benefits of the strategy, according to DMO, include increased the availability of funds to the private sector and lower domestic lending rates both of which will enable the private sector to contribute to growth, as well as, a higher level of external reserves to support the naira exchange rate.