The Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced that Nigeria’s debt stock has hit N20.37 trillion.
In a statement made available in Abuja on Tuesday, the DMO said the total public debt stock comprising the Federal Government, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stood at N20.37 trillion as of September 30.
This shows a marginal increase of 3.6 per cent from the N19.64 trillion as of June 30.
The debt stock shows that domestic debt accounted for 76.96 percent, while external debt accounted for 23.04 percent.
Specifically, domestic debt stock stood at N15.68 trillion, which is an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to N15.03 trillion as of June 30.
On the other hand, external debt stock stood at N4.69 trillion, a marginal rise of 1.9 percent above the N4.6 trillon as of June 30.
According to DMO, the amount which comprises of $2.5 billion in new borrowing to part finance the N2.32 trillion deficit in the 2017 Appropriation Act and $3 billion to repay maturing domestic debt is expected to achieve a reduction in interest costs of about N75 billion and N91 billion respectively, when compared to the interest cost of borrowing in Naira in the domestic market.
The strategy will also contribute to attaining the target ratio of 60:40 between domestic and external debt. Other benefits of the strategy include increased availability of funds to the private sector and lower domestic lending rates both of which will enable the private sector contribute to growth, as well as, higher level of eternal reserves to support the Naira exchange rate.
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