Nigeria’s total debt stock now stands at N21.725 trillion with borrowing under the present administration totalling N9.61 trillion having borrowed N4.365 billion in 2017 according to the information made available by the Debt Management Office, DMO.
The Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, disclosed this on Wednesday, March 13, during a press conference in Abuja.
Oniha said the federal government is planning to reduce domestic debt to 60 percent to the total debt stock from the present 73 percent.
She added that the new debt stock represents 18.20 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2017.
She said Nigeria had to increase borrowing because the output and price of crude fell in 2014, which reduced government revenue and eventually plunged the economy into its worst recession in 25 years.
The DG also noted that the debt consisted of N15.938 trillion domestic borrowings for the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
This represents 73.36 per cent of the entire debt stock, with the external component consisting of a balance of N5.787 trillion, representing 26.64 per cent.
A further breakdown indicates the domestic debt for the Federal Government was N12.589 trillion, while that of states and the FCT was N3.348 trillion.
