From March and June, 2020, Nigeria’s public debt rose from N2.381 trillion to N31 trillion, a Debt Management Office (DMO) report, released on Wednesday, has shown.
Already, the country has spent $287,043.07 million on debt servicing within the same period.
The nation’s Public Debt Stock, which comprises the Debt Stock of the Federal Government, the 36 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory as of June 30, 2020, stood at N31.009 trillion or SD85.897 billion, according to the report.
This represents N2.381 trillion or USD6.593 billion increase over the N28.628 trillion or USD79.303 billion figures for March 31, 2020.
According to DMO, the increase “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.”
While stating that the debt profile would still rise, DMO said it “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.
“It will be recalled that the 2020 Appropriation Act had to be revised in the face of the adverse and severe impact of COVID-19 on Government’s Revenues and increased expenditure needs on health and economic stimulus, among others.
Additional Promissory Notes are expected to be issued in the course of the year, this, and new borrowings by State Governments are also expected to increase the Public Debt Stock.”
Information provided on DMO website shows that Nigeria spent the sum of $287,043.07 million on debt servicing between April and June.
This is made up of $70.27 million as principal, $199.8 million as interest, $13.8 million as service fee, $78,580 as deferred interest, $207,430 as deferred service, $615,750 as overdue charges indemnity and $2.5 million as commitment charges.
