The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday, in Abuja, announced that Nigeria’s total public debt stock hit N87.91tn ($114.35bn) as of September 30, 2023.
The DMO, in a statement, said the amount represented the domestic and external debts of the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that N87.91tn total debt stock represents a marginal increase of 0.61 per cent when compared to the June figure of N87.38tn.
The debt office said this trend was explained by the decrease in external debt from $43.16bn as of June 30 to $41.59bn as of September 30. It said there was also a relatively moderate increase of N1.80tn in the domestic debt.
The statement noted, “External debt decreased due to a redemption of $500m Eurobond. It also decreased due to the payment of $413.959m as the first principal repayment of the $3.4bn loan obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2020 during Covid-19.”
According to the DMO, the servicing of all the debts was a clear demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to honouring its debt obligations. It, however, said President Bola Tinubu’s revenue generation initiatives remained essential to Nigeria’s overall fiscal balance.
