Nigeria’s debt rises 20.81% YoY. Lagos tops states
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria’s public debt grew 20.81 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from N35.46 trillion ($86.57 billion) in the second quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021) to N42.84 trillion ($103.31 billion) in Q2 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Public debt includes external and domestic debts.
The latest data released by the NBS in its “Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q2 2021 to Q2 2022” shows external debt at N13.71 trillion ($33.46 billion) in Q2 2021 rose to N16.61 trillion ($40.06 billion) in Q2 2022.
Domestic debt, which was N21.75 trillion ($53.10 billion) in Q2 2021, increased to N26.23 trillion ($63.24 billion) in Q2 2022.
“This shows that public debt (in national currency) grew by 20.81 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 from the figure recorded in the second quarter of 2021,’’ the NBS said.
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Lagos tops list of state debtors
Lagos recorded the highest domestic debt of N797.30 billion in Q2 2022, followed by Delta (N378.87 billion), and Ogun (N241.78 billion), according to reporting by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), published by The PUNCH.
Jigawa recorded the lowest debt at N45.13 billion, followed by Ebonyi (N59.11 billion), and Kebbi (N60.41 billion).
Lagos also had the highest external debt at $1.27 billion in Q2 2022, followed by Kaduna (4586.77 million), and Edo ($268.31 million).
“The lowest external debt stock was recorded in Borno at 18.69 million dollars, followed by Taraba and Yobe at 22.28 million dollars and 23.09 million dollars, respectively,’’ the NBS said.
Buhari mounts up $40b national debt for his successor
External debt rose from $10.32 billion on 30 June 2015 to $40.06 billion on 30 June 2022, an increase of 288.18 per cent in the seven years of Muhammadu Buhari in the saddle in Aso Rock.
His successor will inherit the burden of servicing this debt and repaying the principal plus other loans he will obtain before he serves out his tenure on 29 May 2023
Debt Management Office (DMO) data shows the federal government had $7.05 billion debt and the 36 states $3.27 billion in June 2015, which increased to federal ($35.5 billion) and states ($4.56 billion) in June 2022.
The debt included loans from multilateral sources such as the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It also included bilateral loans from China, France, Japan, Germany, and India, as well as commercial sources including Eurobonds and Diaspora bonds.
External debt has ballooned as the naira has lost value, costing more to service loans, with the IMF recently disclosing naira depreciation equated to a loss of 10.6 per cent of its value every year since 1973.