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Debt Servicing Gulps N4.4trillion, 64% of Nigeria’s Expenditure In Three Months Under Tinubu

Bola Tinubu
November 6, 2024

According to the document, the total outstanding public debt stood at N121.67 trillion at the of the first quarter of 2024, that is March 2024.

 

Data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, has shown that debt servicing gulped N4.4trillion in the second quarter of 2024. 

While the government spent N6.8 trillion in second quarter of 2024, of this amount N4.4 trillion was spent on debt service. 

This would mean that 64.7% of the expenditure of the country went to debt servicing under the President Bola Tinubu-led government.

It would also mean that Nigeria spent more than it earned on debt servicing, the revenue posted for second quarter 2024, stood at N2.3 trillion.

According to the document, the total outstanding public debt stood at N121.67 trillion at the of the first quarter of 2024, that is March 2024.

The increase in public debt which goes a long way to determining how much the country pays on debt service, was blamed largely on rise in exchange rate, revaluation of debt stock, securitisation of ways and means advances, and new borrowings. 

The document noted that, domestic debt accounted for 53.95 per cent, while external debt obligations constituted 46.05 per cent. 

Of the consolidated public debt stock, FGN owed N117.60 trillion (96.66%), while the state governments accounted for the balance. 

debt servicing

A disaggregation of the FGN debt obligations showed that domestic debt was N61.57 trillion (52.36%), while external debt constituted N56.02 trillion (47.64%). Further analysis revealed that FGN Bonds maintained its dominance, with 78.63 per cent of the total domestic debt stock, followed by Treasury Bills (16.95%), Promissory Notes (2.55%), and FGN Sukuk (1.77%).

Of the total external debt stock, multilateral accounted for 49.45 per cent, while commercial (36.54%) and bilateral loans (14.01%) constituted the balance.

Experts had argued that Nigeria high debt service figure would go a long way to affect development and funds available for infrastructural projects.