JUST IN: Nigeria’s public debt rose by N24.33tn in three months – DMO

Nigeria’s total public debt has reached N121.67tn, increasing by N24.33tn or 24.99 per cent within three months, the Debt Management Office has announced.

This new figure is from a total debt of N97.34tn (108.23bn) as of December 2023.

The Debt Management Office disclosed the new figure in a press release on Thursday in Abuja.

The Public Debt, comprise of Total Domestic and External Debts of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the thirty-six state governments, and the Federal Capital Territory.

The report read, “Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N121.67 trillion (USD91.46 billion) as of March 31, 2024. The comparative figure for December 31, 2023, was N97.34 trillion (USD108.23 billion). Total Domestic Debt was N65.65 trillion (USD46.29 billion) while Total External Debt was N56.02 trillion (USD42.12 billion).”

PUNCH Online observed that the increase is driven majorly by naira devaluation, as the total debt was reduced in dollar terms.

On Thursday, PUNCH Online reported that the government has borrowed a total of $4.95bn in loans from the World Bank in the past 12 months amidst worries about the increasing costs of servicing external debt.

This came as the government still expects fresh loan approval worth $4.4bn from the international lender and the Africa Development Bank over the next year.

An analysis by PUNCH Online showed that the bank approved funding for six projects including $750m for power sector financing, $500m for women empowerment, $700m for girl child education, $750m for renewable energy solutions, $750m on resource mobilisation reforms and $1.5bn for economic stabilisation reforms.

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