Nigeria’s Debt Rises To N35.5tn

Nigeria’s debt and government borrowing has increased to N35.5 trillion, with each Nigerian now owing about N165,500 to countries, international organisations and domestic investors.

According to reports by Debt Management Office (DMO) published on Wednesday, Nigeria’s present debt stock increased in the last six months to 7.75 percent.

This report is higher than the N32.9 trillion recorded at the close of 2020.

With an estimated population figure of 200 million, the current debt per capita which is calculated as the total public debt of a country divided by the country’s population, is N165,500.

Within the last six months, Nigeria’s debt increased by 0.60 percent from N164,500 in December, to N165,500.

However, the Director-General of DMO, Patience Oniha, gives a breakdown of Nigeria’s debt stock, while advising on the need to minimize the borrowing rate.

She noted:

“The percentage of FG’s share of the national debt had increased from 81.94 per cent as at December 2020.

“The debt stock is within the acceptable limit; the challenge is not much is done to shore up poor revenue, if this is not done the country risks the debt sustainability issue.

“We should focus on revenue. The good thing about it is that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning has started a programme aimed at growing the revenue profile. We must discipline ourselves to follow through to grow our revenue. If we continue to borrow and do nothing about growing our revenue base as other countries have done, we may have a debt sustainability challenge.

“The country’s debt to GDP remained considerably low at 21.92 per cent, up from 21.61 per cent last year.

“We are currently working at converting it to a tenor facility. This is because overdrafts should be cleared when they are due,” Oniha stated.

Source: Ripples Nigeria

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