BEVERLY HILLS, March 15, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s total public debt stock comprising the Federal Government, the 36 states and the FCT, as at the end of December 2017 is N21.725 trillion.
This was revealed in Abuja by Patience Oniha, Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), speaking on the country’s Debt Management Strategy (DMS).
She revealed that the Federal Government’s domestic debt at the end of 2017 was N12.589 trillion while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have a domestic debt overhang of N3.348 trillion.
The combined external debt of the Federal Government and the states is N5.787 trillion.
According to Oniha, the new DMS has brought about the restructuring of the debt portfolio, which “has resulted in reduction of debt servicing costs, lowering interest rates in the domestic market and an improved availability of credit facilities to the private sector.”
She added that he recent spate of borrowings by government is essentially “for financing capital expenditure and stimulating the economy.
“The funds injected through the borrowings strongly supported the implementation of the Federal Government’s budget, which helped the country to exit recession in 2017.
“The figures showed that Nigeria’s Debt Management Strategy is achieving its objective of reducing the ratio of Domestic Debt in the portfolio, with a target of 60% Domestic and 40% External.
“The composition of the Debt Stock as at the end of 2017 showed that External Debt was 26.64% of the portfolio, up from 20.04% in 2016. Domestic Debt was 73.36%, down from 79.96% in 2016.
“The key benefits of the restructuring of the portfolio are the reduction of the Government’s Debt Service Costs, lowering of interest rates in the domestic market and improved availability of credit facilities to the private sector.
“The DMO repaid N198 billion Nigerian Treasury Bills in December 2017 with the proceeds of Eurobond issuances and the DMO has continued further implementation of the strategy in 2018, with the issuance of the USD2.5 billion Eurobonds in February 2018, the proceeds of which is being used to repay maturing domestic debt, starting with N130 billion NTBs repaid on March 1, 2018.
“The Total Public Debt as at December 31, 2017 represents 18.20% of Nigeria’s GDP for 2017. This shows that Nigeria’s debt continues to be sustainable and is well within the threshold of 56% for countries in Nigeria’s peer group.”
Oniha assured Nigerians that the most important consideration for these borrowings was that the proceeds were being prudently applied to bridge infrastructure gaps occasioned by the decline in revenues.
