Nigeria’s public debt now N49 trn
By Patience Ikpeme
As of March 31, 2023, Nigeria’s total public debt increased to N49.95 trillion (equivalent to $108.30 billion).
The country’s debt stock grew by N3 trillion between December 2022 and March 2023, according to a quarterly assessment by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The report noted that the debt amount did not include N22.719 trillion debt incurred through the Ways and Means from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
External debt rose from N18.702 trillion in December 2022 to N19.643 trillion by March 2023, while domestic debt stock increased from N27.548 trillion to N30.209 trillion over the same period.
It is expected that Nigeria’s total public debt will reach N70 trillion once the N22.719 trillion securitised debt is accounted for in the June 2023 figures.
The DMO also released its Market Access Country Debt Sustainability Analysis (MAC-DSA) for 2022 to promote transparency.
The DMO in the report recommended that increased revenue was required for sustainable public debt.
The Director General of the DMO, Ms Patience Oniha, praised the recent policies introduced by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to achieve revenue mobilization and improve public debt sustainability.
