Nigeria’s Public Debt Profile Escalates to ₦31trn in June, 2020

Nigeria’s Public Debt Profile Escalates to ₦31trn in June, 2020

Nigeria’s total public debt expanded to N31 trillion in the first half of 2020 amidst growing concerns in the economy about the attendance cost of servicing the obligation and its sustainability.

In its recent release, the Debt Management Office (DMO) data shows that in naira term, total public debt stock split by the Federal Government, the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory stood USD85.897 billion.

Converting at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate peg, this translates to N31.009 trillion.

The breakdown of the total public debt book shows that the size of the foreign loans in the first half was 36.65% while local debt was 63.35%.

Of the total external debts which settled at N11.363 trillion, Federal Government accounts for 31.68% of the exposure.

Read Also: FG borrows N1.32trn in 6-month, hike public debt to N25.7trn

Total domestic borrowings then printed at N19.645 trillion, of which FG take closed at 49.84% of the sum.

Analysts explained that the uptick may not be unconnected with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and associated borrowings.

The figure shows that some billion dollars was added to the debt book when compared with the total loan position as of March 31, 2020, at N28.628 Trillion or USD79.303 Billion.

The increase in borrowings which came at N2.381 trillion or USD6.593 billion was accounted for by the USD3.36 billion Budget Support Loan from the International Monetary Fund, new domestic borrowing to finance the revised 2020 appropriation Act.

This also includes the issuance of the N162.557 billion Sukuk, and promissory notes issued to settle claims of exporters.

Meanwhile, the DMO expects the total public exposure to creditors to grow as the balance of the new domestic borrowing is raised.

This in addition to expected disbursements from the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank which were arranged to finance the 2020 Budget.

Nigeria’s Public Debt Profile Escalates to ₦31trn in June, 2020