Buhari’s Govt Borrowed Over N2trn In 3 Months – DMO

By James Orji

The Debt Management Office, DMO says Nigeria’s debt rose from over N39 trillion in December to over N41 trillion in March this year, a difference of over N2 trillion.

The DMO disclosed this in a statement posted on its website on Monday.

The statement read in part, “The total public debt stock as at March 31, 2022, was N41.60tn or $100.07bn, according to the Debt Management Office.

“The amount represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the thirty-six state governments and the Federal Capital Territory. The comparative figures for December 31, 2021, were N39.56tn or $95.78bn.”

The debt office said the total public debt stock includes new domestic borrowing by the FGN to partly finance the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation Act, the $1.25bn Eurobond issued in March 2022 and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.

It said the total public debt to GDP is now 23.27 per cent, which is below Nigeria’s self-imposed limit of 40 per cent.

The Office revelation comes amidst concern among Nigerians that the current government has incurred more debt than previous administrations in the country.

The nation’s total debt in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took power was barely N10 trillion.

In spite of the growing frustration over the implications of the rising debt for the nation’s future, the government has maintained that it has no other option than to continue to borrow to fund critical infrastructure in the country.

Apart from Nigerians, development partners such as the IMF, World Bank, AfDB and others has also expressed their dissatisfaction with Nigeria’s high debt profile.

Two weeks ago, the IMF’s Resident Representative for Nigeria, Ari Aisen, again expressed worry over the nation’s worsening debt situation.

Aisen had warned that, with the manner the debt is growing the Nigerian government may have to spend nearly 100 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing by 2026.

The Bretton Wood United States of America, USA based world financial institution said the Nigeria government currently spends 89 per cent of its revenue to service debt.

The IMF chief said “I think the biggest critical aspect for Nigeria is that we have done a macro-fiscal stress test, and what you observe is the interest payments as a share of revenue and as you see us in terms of the baseline from the federal government of Nigeria, the revenue, almost 100 percent, is projected by 2026 to be taken by debt service,” the IMF official said.

“So, the fiscal space or the amount of revenues that will be needed, and this, without considering any shock, is that most of the revenues of the federal government are now in fact 89 percent and it will continue, if nothing is done, to be taken by debt service.”