Nigeria’s total public debt now N48.93 trillion- DMO

Nigeria’s total public debt portfolio now stands at about N48.93 trillion, with the government borrowing about N3.73 trillion over the past five months.

According to he Nation’s Economic Intelligence the government raised about N1.599 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Debt Management Office (DMO), which oversees the issuance and management of Nigeria’s sovereign debts, had earlier confirmed The Nation’s exclusive report that the government had raised N2.129 trillion in the first two months of 2023.

A breakdown indicated that Nigeria’s domestic debts have risen to about N30.643 trillion, primarily due to new borrowings of about N1.599 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and N2.129 trillion between January and February 2023.

Nigeria’s external debt increased to N18.282 trillion, mainly due to the depreciation of the naira against the dollar.

The national debt portfolio for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, published by DMO indicated that Nigeria had total debt of N44.064 trillion, including domestic borrowing of about N26.916 trillion and converted external debts of N17.148 trillion.

The DMO had applied the then-official exchange rate of N432.37 per dollar to the country’s external debt of $39.662 billion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday indicated the official exchange rate at N460.96 per dollar, implying the addition of some N1.13 trillion to the country’s converted foreign debts due to currency depreciation. With this, external debts increased from N17.148 trillion in the third quarter of 2022 to stand now at N18.282 trillion.

With maturing debt obligations and running a budget deficit, the government has continued to raise funds through the monthly issuance of regular bonds, retail savings bonds and treasury bills.

A breakdown of the debt issuances showed that about N852.926 billion were raised through the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs), N4.174 billion through the Federal Government of Nigerian Savings Bonds (FGNSBs) and N741.55 billion through regular bond and Sukuk issuances in fourth quarter 2022.

In January 2023, the government raised N662.617 billion through its regular bond auction, N277.468 billion through the NTBs and N533.03 million through the FGNSBs, a retail monthly debt issuance introduced in 2017.

It raised N1.189 trillion in February 2023, including N770.56 billion through bond auctions, N417.064 billion through NTBs and N1.271 billion through the FGNSBs. Total borrowings in February 2023 represented a 26.4 per cent increase above N940.62 billion raised in January 2023.

The total debt issuance in the past two months represented more than a 33 per cent increase on the total debt issuance in the fourth quarter of 2022.