Nigeria’s total public debt stock increased to N41.60tn in the first quarter of 2022 from N39.56tn as of December 2021. This shows an increase of N2.04tn within a period of three months.
The public debt stock covers the total domestic and external debt of the Federal and state Governments and the Federal Capital Territory. It read in part, “The total public debt stock as at March 31, 2022, was N41.60tn or $100.07bn- DMO. “The amount represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The comparative figures for December 31, 2021, were N39.56tn or $95.78bn.”
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.
Reacting, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the rising debt profile of government raises serious sustainability concerns. “When we take account of borrowings from the CBN and the stock of AMCON debt, the debt profile would be in excess of N50tn. Although, government tends to argue that the conditions was not a debt problem, but a revenue challenge. But the truth is that debt becomes a problem if the revenue base is not strong enough to service the debt sustainably. “The will to cut expenditure and undertake reforms that could scale down the size of the government, reduce governance cost and ease the fiscal burden on the government.”
According to him, fund capital projects, especially infrastructure projects, that will strengthen the productive capacity of the economy. He said, “This is the position of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Additionally, emphasis should be on concessionary financing, as opposed to commercial debts which are typically very costly.
-Punch.
