Debt servicing gulped N2.1tn in 2019

The federal government spent a total sum of N2.1tn to service the country’s debt obligations to local and foreign debtors between January and December 2019, statistics obtained from the accountant-general of the federation have revealed.

The amount is contained in 2019 consolidated financial statements of the government which was prepared by the OAGF.

The N2.11tn spent to service the country’s debt is N64.06bn or 2.99 per cent less than the N2.14tn approved in the 2019 Federal Government budget.

An analysis of the statement showed that from the N2.11tn, about N1.66tn was spent servicing domestic debt while foreign debt obligations took the balance of N448.66bn.

A breakdown of the N2.11tn debt service payment showed that about N290.21bn was spent in January, while February, March, April and May had N187.76bn, N231.36bn, N118.56bn and N84.07bn respectively.

Further analysis of the financial statement showed that the federal government spent N90.3bn in June and N236.91bn in July.

For August, September, October, November and December, the amount spent on debt service obligations were N207.03bn, N276.1bn, N220.54bn, N110.06bn, N56.75bn respectively.

For the N1.66tn spent on servicing domestic debt, the financial statement showed that about N267.87bn was spent in January.

In the same vein, the sum of N155.42bn was incurred on debt service obligation in February, while March had N196.99bn, April N84.19bn and May N49.71bn.

Also, the government utilised N55.93bn to service domestic debt in June while July, August, September, October, November and December had N202.54bn, N172.66bn, N231.67bn, N176.1bn, N65.62bn and N12.31bn respectively.

For foreign debt servicing, further analysis of the statement showed that the N448.66bn spent by the Federal Government was incurred thus: January N32.34bn, February N32.34bn, March N32.36bn, April N34.36bn, May N34.36bn and June N34.36bn.

Similarly, the sum of N34.36bn was spent by the government on debt servicing in July while August, September, October, November and December had N34.36bn, N44.44bn, N44.44bn, November N44.44bn and December N44.44bn respectively.