Nigeria’s debt profile hits N31 trillion

Nigeria’s total debt profile rose to N31. 009 trillion ($85.897 billion) as of June 30, 2020, says the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the figure comprises debt stock of the Federal government, 36 states of the federation and the Federal capital Territory.

“The corresponding figures for March 31, 2020 were N28.628 trillion or USD79.303 billion. The increase in the Debt Stock by N2.381 Trillion or USD6.593 Billion was accounted for by the USD3.36 Billion Budget Support Loan from the International Monetary Fund, New Domestic Borrowing to finance the Revised 2020 Appropriation Act including the issuance of the N162.557 Billion Sukuk, and Promissory Notes issued to settle Claims of Exporters,” said DMO.

DMO expects “the public debt stock to grow as the balance of the new domestic borrowing is raised and expected disbursements are made by the World Bank, African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank which were arranged to finance the 2020 Budget.”

A debt service payment document also released by DMO showed that a total of $287.04 million was spent servicing external debt in the three months. Payment of principal took 70.27 million while the remaining was spread on fees and interest.