Nigeria’s total public debt has increased to 49.853 trillion Naira, or $108.3 billion, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said in a report. This is over N3 trillion since the December 2022 record.
In a report posted on its official website, the DMO said the total debt includes foreign and domestic debt of the federal government, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This represents a significant increase compared to the total national debt of Naira 46.25 trillion ($103 billion) in the previous period to 21 December 2022.
The agency said the official CBN exchange rate of 31 March 2023, US$1 to Naira 460.35, will be used when converting the domestic debt into US dollars. However, it noted that the total debt amount did not take into account the federal government’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revenue advances of NGN 22.719 trillion, which was approved for securitization by the parliament in May.
The DMO said the “hows and means” will be on the federal government’s debt inventory starting in June. Meanwhile, the DMO recently released the Market Access Countries Debt Sustainability Analysis (MAC-DSA) to promote transparency.
MAC-DSA is a World Bank/IMF best practice tool for sovereign debt management that has been adopted and implemented by DMOs for many years. According to the DMO, this is an annual exercise with the participation of key federal officials. These bodies include the CBN, the Federation Budget Office, and the Federation General Accounting Office (OAGF). Others include the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
DMO Executive Director Patience Oniha said his recent DSA report highlighted the need for increased revenue to keep government debt sustainable. Oniha said the recently released DSA report for 2022 also emphasized the need to increase government revenues.
He praised some of the current government’s recent actions that have helped improve debt sustainability. “Measures such as the elimination of the Expenditure Management Subsidy and the focus on revenue through the appointment of the President’s Special Adviser on Revenue are positive steps for fiscal sustainability,” Oniha said.
