The Debt Management Office, (DMO) has announced that Nigeria’s public debt stock as of 31 December 2023 is N97.341 trillion ($108.229 bn).
The agency, which made the announcement on Friday, noted that the amount comprised domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), added that the new figure shows an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for 30 September 2023.
This was largely because of the new domestic borrowing by the federal government to part-finance the deficit in the 2024 budget, and disbursements by multi-lateral and bilateral lenders.
Loans from multi-lateral sources constituted 49.77 per cent of the country’s external debt stock, while loans from bilateral sources constituted 16.02 per cent.
According to the DMO, “At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61% of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39%.
“That is a total of 63.79 per cent, mostly concessional and semi-concessional loans. Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practices in public debt management, the recent and ongoing efforts of the authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”.
